Mortal Desires
by Ana the Romantic
Summary: Even with the sudden loss of a friend, there is a light that makes you want to get up everyday. But in light there is always shadow. A new ghost has come and grants the deepest desires of a mortal soul, while destroying other’s dreams. DxS On Hiatus.
1. Prologue

**Mortal Desires**

**_Summary_:** Even with the sudden loss of a friend, there is a light that makes you want to get up everyday. But in light there is always shadow. A new ghost has come and grants the deepest desires of a mortal soul, while destroying other's dreams. DxS

**_Disclaimer_:** Danny Phantom belongs to Butch Hartman, not me. Please no sue. Me no have money. All I have is plot in my head and I write like the wind.

**Prologue:** A Few Years Down The Road

It was a nice night in Amity Park. 'A nice place to live.' At least that's what one of the many city billboards said. That was, until someone was thrown through it.

Danny Phantom landed on his back in a pile of wood splinters and two by fours. He put a hand to the side of his head briefly and shook himself out of the slight daze from the sudden impact into the ground. He brushed his hair back and looked up to see his two friends Sam Manson and Tucker Foley running toward him. Danny looked up at the hole that his body made through the billboard that now read, 'Amity Park: A place to live.'

"Dang, that ghost gorilla gave it to ya, didn't he?" Tucker chuckled as he helped his friend up from the ground.

"I just hope the city doesn't add the broken billboard to another expense for Inviso-Bill to cover," Danny cracked his neck a little and dusted his shoulder off, "You would think I would have accumulated enough damage in the past three years for them to just forget about it. Besides, shouldn't heroes get a reprieve or something?"

"Danny, money is money," Sam spoke up and crossed her arms over her chest, "They don't really care how they get it. But I doubt they'll actually go after you. I would think they would realize that a ghost would have no use for money."

"A ghost might not, but a human teenager does. My human side needs that same stuff for college next year. So they need to back off," Danny mumbled.

"Okay, let's continue this lovely discussion later," Tucker put a hand on each of his friend's shoulders and looked over at the white and light blue primate running through the central park, "Maybe you should use the thermos now."

"Just maybe," Danny smirked, "I'm tired of monkey-ing around."

"Nice try, Danny," Sam rolled her eyes at her friend's lame attempt at a joke and got the thermos from her bag. As he reached out for the thermos he touched her hand and fingertips, trying to linger as long as he could before he grabbed the thermos away. She had noticed many of those accidental touches lately. Mostly when she gave him the thermos or when she was helping him up after the ghost fights. Even passing in the hall to class or even walking next to one another resulted in a brush of their hands or accidental touch of their shoulders. They were just little, small, nearly insignificant touches or glances, but they seemed to be increasing in numbers lately. After her slight zoning she finally got the message to her brain to smile at him.

"Thanks, Sam," he smiled back and nodded, "I'll try to think of something better next time."

"Go kick some ghost butt, Danny," she smirked and watched him fly off toward the huge gorilla.

"You are _so_ sprung…" Tucker chuckled and looked at Sam who was still watching Danny.

"Oh shut up, Tucker," she growled at him, "And where did you hear that anyway?"

"Sorry, picked it up over vacation with distant family in California," he shrugged and watched the primate get sucked into the small, confined space of the Fenton thermos.

"Okay guys," Danny said landing next to them and transformed back into his human self, "Mission accomplished. Now let's get back to zoning in front of the television and totally forgetting about homework."

"So what was a giant ghost gorilla doing outside of the ghost zone anyway? A nice one night vacation?" Tucker asked as he picked the thermos out of Danny's hands and started to examine it as if it would tell him the answer.

Danny sighed, "I have no clue. It kind of looked like he was heading to the zoo though. Maybe a score to settle with a zoo keeper?"

"Maybe in his deceased state he realized that he was under so much oppression and had no rights while he was caged and prodded to provide useless entertainment to the populous of the human race that had him locked up in the first place and wanted some retribution," Sam offered and got weird looks from her friends, "What? Wouldn't you?"

The two boys looked at one another and just shook their heads in their friend's response. Always the animal lover and apparently was never going to stop. They laughed and joked on their way to Fenton Works, the leading authority on ghost hunting in all of Amity Park, a.k.a. Danny's place. Ever since Danny's accident three and a half years ago, the trio never spilt up and held like glue. Other friends came and went, but they were always the team and as far as they knew they were going to stay that way. All of them were even accepted to the same college coming the next fall after senior year.

Danny laughed at another one of Tucker's lists to find the girl of his dreams that he was reading off of his precious PDA. He looked at his techno friend and shook his head in amusement, patting him on the back for support. Sure Tucker was still that huge techno freak he always was, but he had gotten taller, and thanks to Danny's ghost fighting, he got into shape too. With all that running he had to keep in shape, right? His thick glasses were soon replaced by smaller, more stylish ones and, despite Sam and Danny telling him to get rid of it, he still had his red cap.

Sam rolled her eyes from the other side of Danny. She too had gotten taller, but still stood six or seven inches below Danny and Tucker. Average height suited her fine. Besides with her nice, new combat boots, she could always add another couple of inches on. Her hair had grown out over the years, now reaching the middle of her shoulder blades. She usually had it in a low ponytail and let her bangs frame her face. She ditched the skirt a while back and replaced it with some black cargo pants, with a mid-drift top that hung off the shoulders. The pants fit perfectly and she didn't have to worry about them falling since they hugged her hips well.

Danny… well Danny was tall, built and now very handsome. Around middle of sophomore year his voice changed and, thanks again to his ghost fighting, had built himself a nice midsection and arm muscles. He was about the same height as Tucker, rounding at about six foot. He now wore a sweatshirt most of the time, a normal white shirt and blue jeans. Yeah, he was getting a little more noticed by the ladies, but was still the same loser Fenton to the popular crowd. Might as well just go with what was comfortable and not worry about it.

Before the trio had made it to the basement to release the ghost, Danny saw his parents tinkering with another invention on one of the many worktables. Danny, Sam and Tucker watched from a distance as Jack Fenton was playing with another ghost boomerang. Danny squinted and hoped that he didn't want to try it out with them there. Especially with what had happened with the first one. He absentmindedly rubbed the side of his head from the memory where the boomerang had first hit him.

"Hey there, son," Jack smiled and began to wave the boomerang above his head, "Check it out. I made a while new boomerang since the old one was lost mysteriously three years ago."

"Yeah, imagine that," Danny rubbed the back on his neck with one hand.

"I made some major adjustments on it, you wanna see?" Jack raised his hand ready to launch it when an alarm went off from the kitchen screaming something about the ham.

"I'll be back," Jack said before running up the stairs and into the kitchen.

Before Maddie had ran after him she looked at Danny, "Be sure you clean up your room and the living room by this weekend. Your sister is coming to visit."

"Aren't you guys leaving for a ghost conference or something?" Danny asked.

"Not for another week, honey-"

"Maddie! The hotdogs are alive again!" Jack shouted from upstairs and Maddie raced up to help him.

"Well, let's get this guy back in before my mom and dad get back from their meat emergency," Danny sighed and plugged the Fenton thermos in the portal and released the ghost back in.

"So, now that we finally have him home, can we get that English worksheet done?" Sam asked from the side as they headed up toward Danny's room.

"Sam… I thought I said we were going to forget about homework tonight," Danny complained as he opened his door and went in.

"If you want to pass Lancer's advanced class you got to get it done, Danny. And you know it," she smirked and got the worksheet from her bag and laid it out on the bed.

"You all ready have it done, don't you Sam?" Tucker asked as he spotted her handwriting all over the sheet of paper in front of her.

"Got to take care of my guys some how, right?" she smiled and began to go through the numbered problems, "And let me guess, you guys haven't even started."

"I was about to ask…" Danny smiled and looked at his book, "What worksheet?"

Sam sighed and slapped her palm against her forehead in frustration.

* * *

The next day at school everyone was running around with excitement as the date of the Casper High Senior Prom had finally been announced by the teacher committee. It was still a couple of months away, but many of the seniors have been thinking about it since the beginning of the year. Danny came into view with Sam and Tucker by his side. All three of them turned to one of the unoccupied posters by a row of lockers and read it over. The theme of the dance was still being discussed, but it would be decided in the next couple of weeks. They were still taking suggestions as well as nominees for Casper High king and queen. 

Sam looked uninterested and looked to her side as a multitude of gasps were heard from the other side of the hallway. None other than the queen of the popular group walked in and took a look at one of the posters at the other end of the hall. Her highness, Paulina.

"Oh look! Senior Prom, finally!" she giggled and batted her lashes at no one in particular, "I suddenly have an over riding feeling to accept the first dance invite I get… From anyone."

Without another second seeping by, hundreds of guys were running toward her, all asking the same question. Sam sighed in aggravation and leaned to the side where she thought a row of lockers stood. Instead of hitting metal, she actually fell into someone.

"Sorry," she whispered and noticed it was- "Danny?"

"Hey there, Sam," Danny blushed and waved his hand as if he was seeing her for the first time that morning, "Loose your footing?"

"Wha- Why aren't you running for the opportunity?" Sam pointed to the group with the popular girl in the middle of the tidal wave of students.

"One, she's not going to take any of those guys. Even if I was one of them up there or not," he chuckled as Paulina dismissed all the other guys from around her, saying that she had changed her mind, "And two… I'd rather not go with a girl who likes only a part of who I am."

"How's that?" Sam looked at Danny nodding to Paulina who pulled a Danny Phantom t-shirt over her head and began to strut the halls as usual, "Oh."

"It looks like Tucker is after Valerie again," Danny laughed, changing the subject as Tucker leaned against the lockers, trying to sweet talk Valerie to go the prom with him. And she was actually… smiling and laughing?

"Wow, that's a change," Sam smirked and walked with Danny over to the other two.

"Hey Danny. Hey Sam," Valerie greeted and hugged her books to her chest, "Are you guys going to Senior Prom? I'm going with Tucker."

"You are?" Tucker smiled and punched the air with his fist, "Finally."

"That is if that is what you were going to ask?" Valerie smiled and Tucker enthusiastically nodded his head, "See you at lunch to figure out the colors for my dress. I'll meet up with you guys later."

"See ya then," Tucker smiled and pushed his chest out, "The Tucker has a date for the senior prom."

"The Tucker?" Sam stifled a laugh.

"Let me have my glory," he deadpanned, "I actually got that date faster than Danny had when they were dating one another."

"Yeah, that was an awkward week," Danny looked at the ceiling and thought back. Back at the beginning of sophomore year he and Valerie had decided to try the dating scene. It lasted a week. With both of them trying to keep their secret from one another, it was difficult to actually be intimate. Heck, they didn't even get one kiss out of it. It seems as if it was for the best. Valerie told him when they broke it off that it wouldn't have worked to begin with since he was interested in another girl. At first he thought of Paulina, but she told him it was another. He just didn't know it at the time. Or he did, and just didn't want to admit to it.

"Tell me about it," Sam grumbled and walked into Mr. Lancer's advanced English class for seniors with both friends following her in. He wasn't there yet, so they still had time to talk about different topics.

"Okay, so I have a date, what about you two?" Tucker grinned and looked behind him at his two friends sharing a double desk, "Anyone in mind… Danny?"

"If you're talking about Paulina, guess again. I'd much rather go to the prom as myself and not Phantom."

"I meant your new crush we were discussing the other night over the ph-"

"Tucker!" Danny put a hand over his friend's mouth, stopping him from going on about it.

"New crush, huh?" Sam smiled, deciding to join in the taunting, "Anyone I know?"

"No," Danny said abruptly. She looked at the still muted Tucker and found him nodding his head to answer her question.

"Go on…" Sam smiled. Tucker was about to pull off Danny's hand and go on as Sam had asked, but was interrupted as Lancer came in, set down his briefcase and cleared his throat for attention.

"I hope you all have that sheet I assigned done," Sam smirked at her friends and pulled hers out, telling them silently that she was right in making them do it, "Okay, number one… How about you, Mr. Fenton?"

"Ah man…"

* * *

Clockwork silently glided through his lair, every so often glancing through the time portals of the past and future. Being outside of time, he didn't really have a present to tend to. He checked the Fenton thermos that held the evil half of the teen hero, Danny Phantom and found the evil man grumbling to himself and trying to find another way out of the mess his younger self stuck him with. Clockwork nodded to himself in acceptance and continued on. In one of the last rooms to his lair he found a door slightly ajar and cautiously stepped up to it. If the ghost locked in that room had escaped, he had to be careful. 

As he reached for the knob of the door a multitude of rays of yellow-green light blasted through the opening and threw the older clockwork against a far wall. The time master lifted his head to find mad laughter coming from with in the room. Before long a leg came from with in and a shadowed figure walked into the hallway.

"I want to know, Clockwork," a masculine voice came from the figure walking toward him, "Did you really think that that confinement would hold me for the rest of eternity?"

"At least until I could find a way to destroy you," Clockwork said calmly standing up, "You caused enough damage in the world all ready."

The figure laughed again, "Old fool, you should know by now. No one has the capability to destroy Desire. Not even the famous Dan Phantom."

"I can try," Clockwork lunged forward and trying to bring a scythe down on the ghost's head. The ghost quickly stepped out of range of the instrument and dove for a portal, which was shut off with a wave of Clockwork's hand.

"Clever man," the entity snorted and began to fly straight at Clockwork.

Again, Clockwork tried to wave his hand to stop the ghost from coming any closer; to make him frozen in time, but found that they ghost kept coming. He soon found himself flying backwards toward the door that once held the maniac. The ghost came over to him slowly and just looked down at him.

"Don't you remember? I'm immortal; time is no matter to me. I can grant the impossible."

"By destroying people and lives in the process," Clockwork hissed and tired to get up, only to be kicked back down.

"So what, it's my fun. Don't try to stop me this time, huh? You'll only land back on your ass."

Clockwork watched as the ghost ran toward the nearest portal he could find.

"Now to have some fun with mortals," he laughed and turned back just on the other side of the portal to close it off, "And that should keep you out of my hair. Ta-ta."

Clockwork looked in at the time the ghost escaped and shook his head, "It looks like Daniel will have to deal with more on his plate. I'm sorry, young ghost lad. You have to do this on your own. I cannot follow."

**A/N:** Okay, my second Danny Phantom fiction. I'm getting on a roll here. True myfirst one was only a one-shot, song fic, but I hope that this one will make a better impression on you all. And not to upset you guys or anything, but Clockwork isn't in this fic all that much other than now,of course, and much later. Sorry. And please review. I get better at typing when I get those. Who knew? Thank you!

And I apologise for the lame summary...


	2. Chap 1: Why This One

**Chapter One:** Why This One

Tucker walked with an extra bounce to his step as his friends smiled behind him. They could not remember another time in their lives as friends when he was happier. Although, they had to make the exception for the day he got his precious PDA. His smile has never left his face since Valerie had accepted his invite to Prom, and for some reason he couldn't stop talking about it either. Even if his friends had decided to block him out after fifteen minutes of his rambling.

"I mean, it's been- what? Three years? After two years of being friends, and her finally being accepted in the group, the day has finally come. I actually broke through the rough outside shell and to her warm gooey center-" Tucker continued.

Sam chuckled and whispered to Danny, "He makes her sound like a new kind of candy bar."

Danny nodded and chuckled too.

After finishing Lancer's class they were heading for lunch and for Tucker, that was a blessing. As they made it into the cafeteria, Valerie waved them over to a side table.

"You guys ready to get in line?" Tucker looked at Danny and Sam who immediately held up bagged lunches. Sam looked surprised and looked at Danny who only smirked back as if he was proud of himself.

"O…k…" Tucker said looking strangely at Danny since the ghost kid never brought his lunch to school. Then something registered in his mind. Danny was trying to impress Sam once again. He's been trying to send subtle hints to her since the end of sophomore year. So far the message hasn't been recieved, "Well, it's off to line with me."

"You don't have to," Valerie came up to them and touched Tucker lightly on the shoulder, "I all ready got you a plate of meat so we could get a jump start on our plans."

All four of the friends sat down at the table and Tucker slid in next to Valerie. Danny and Sam sat next to each other and across from Tucker and Valerie, watching as Tucker sat simply amazed by Valerie and all that she was doing for him.

"All right, Tucker," Valerie pulled out a magazine full of dresses and material splotches, "What color should I be looking for?"

"I've always like yellow or gold on you," he smirked and stuffed some hamburger patties into his mouth.

"Okay…" she blushed and turned the page, "Let's look for gold then, shall we?"

Sam rolled her eyes and gave a disgusted face at the two. She just didn't know if it was because of the fact of the dead bovine being chewed upon in Tucker's mouth, or because of the flirting between the two. Danny looked at her with a flustered look. How could they be getting along so well together?

"Are they… dare I say it?…flirting?" Danny grimaced and Sam put a finger down her throat in a fake gagging motion. He prodded her in the side playfully and chuckled. Sam finally looked down to find that Danny had brought out a salad from his bag. A _salad_!

"Danny? Is that actually green in that bowl?"

"That's the color salads actually are suppose to be right?" he joked.

"What happened? Run out of cash to buy hamburger?"

"Don't get too excited or surprised, Sam," he tossed the salad and poked something in the salad with his fork and showed it to Sam, "It's a chicken salad."

Sam shrugged, "At least it's a step in the right direction."

"Yeah it only took you fourteen years," Tucker joined in the conversation while Valerie kept flipping through the magazine, "And even then he's still eating meat."

"His choice," she shrugged, "I'm not going to force him to eat veggie if he doesn't want to."

"You'll just force the rest of the school," Tucker earned a glare from Sam from mentioning the meat fiasco in their freshman year. The glare was cut off as soon as Valerie shoved another picture in front of Tucker, "Hey I like that one."

"In your dreams, I'm not showing that much skin. I meant the one next to it."

"Was worth a shot," Tucker shrugged and picked a hot dog off his plate.

Suddenly Sam's cell phone went off and she answered it right on the spot as if she was expecting it. As Sam was busy on her cell, Valerie was shoving the magazine over to the other side of the table to show Danny some of her dress choices, trying to get his opinion. He gave his honest opinion and earned some annoyed glances from Valerie.

"You asked, Val," he reminded her and looked at Sam after she got off the phone, "Who was that?"

"I have an interview after school today."

"I didn't know you were even looking for a job."

"I put in a few applications here and there," she popped in more pieces of her salad into her mouth.

"A job? Why would you need one?" Tucker asked, stuffing yet more meat down his throat.

"Because, it would help me earn my own money instead of relying on my mother and father. Of all people, they are the worst to go clothes shopping with. My mother buys me at least five pink dresses each time. And I spray paint them all by the end of the night. I wouldn't be caught dead in something from her collection," she cringed from the memory of the last dress her mother had gotten her.

"So where is it?" Danny asked interested.

"I burned the last two. Maybe the third is in my closet after I painted it and did a few 'touch ups'," she grinned at the memory.

"No Sam, I meant where's the job?" Danny said slowly and rolled a carrot around in his plastic bowl.

"I don't want to say yet," Sam said in finality. That's all she was going to say about it for now. Danny knew it and decided not to push it.

* * *

It was around four when Sam separated from the guys as she made her way down the road toward her interview. She had changed her clothes at school with the ones that she had stored neatly in her locker. Danny turned to Tucker who was being dragged off by Valerie toward her house. He wanted to go with Danny since he knew that Danny was going to follow Sam with his ghost powers. Unfortunately he would have to wait for Danny to tell him. Danny looked around, checked his surroundings and turned ghost. Swiftly, he turned invisible and followed Sam close behind. 

As Sam neared a large building, taking up the corner of an intersection. Danny looked at the title of the company printed on the building. He just floated there in amazement, 'You have got to be kidding me…'

Sam looked down at her clothes; they were corporate casual; a nice dress jacket and slack combo. Sam entered the building and talked with the woman at the desk. After a few moments she was led to the back room with a group of people and sat down by a table in what she guessed was the break room. Other people were also in semi-casual wear even with a few guys wearing ties. Danny floated above the table and watched the proceedings.

A man with a red shirt and black pants walked into the room and was followed by two women with the same outfit, "Welcome everyone. Thank you for a applying and I hope you will find that here, at _Toys-R-Us_ we are happy to have you join our family. I'm David, this is Chrissie and Jenna. Now, what I want you to do is to pick an adjective that describes you that starts with the same letter as your first name. We also need an impersonation of your favorite cartoon character."

Sam suddenly raised her hand to be the first one. Danny grinned wide and zoned in on Sam, 'I gotta see this.'

Sam swiped a piece of hair behind her ear and took a deep breath, "I'm Superb Sam. And my favorite character sounds something like this-"

She took another breath and did the perfect impersonation of Mandy from the Grimm Adventures of Billy and Mandy. Others clapped and Sam sat down. Danny began to laugh and clapped along. He decided that this was enough and went to wait outside the store for Sam to finish. After another hour or so, Sam strolled out of the store with a smile on her face. She was now employed and was starting next week.

"So, I'm thinking you got the job?" Danny asked from the side of the building.

"Danny! What are you doing here?" she asked, turning around to see him hiding the Toys-R-Us booklet behind her back.

"Oh come on, Sam," he chuckled, "It's okay. It's a job, right? And hey, it's one of the best places to work. You get to play with toys all day."

"Well, not _toys_ exactly…"

* * *

"_You're_ working at Toys-R-Us!" Tucker laughed out loud as the three of them walked home. Sam gave an aggravated glare at him and pouted. It was the day after her interview and they were walking to Danny's house to study for the new exam in Government, "What are you going to do? Play with the dolls? Surrounded by all that pink…" 

Danny turned to her and smirked she smiled back and put a sweet tone to her voice, "Actually… they put me in electronics. I get to play with videogames all day. Well, at least the new ones."

Tucker stopped in his tracks and watched as Danny and Sam began to laugh, "I'm sorry Sam, I'll be good. I promise! Just please…. Please get me the new Kingdom Hearts when it comes in! Please!"

"Oh, I don't know…" she looked at Danny who was starting to laugh at his friend's begging. Suddenly a blue mist floated from his mouth and he turned to his friends.

"It looks like it's ghost time," they sheltered him as he transformed and flew toward the empty field were they noticed a strange glow. Tucker and Sam turned to each other and ran after him.

In the field they found Valerie on her rockets sled firing at a new ghost. It had a masculine form to it and it had muscles and a nice build as if he had worked out every day when he was alive. He turned around at one point and Danny noticed his eyes glowed red. This ghost had a yellow-green tint to his glow and had very different kind of clothing. Almost futuristic. Danny saw the ghost blast Valerie back into some shrubbery at the other end of the field.  
"Hey you! Get lost in the time line?" Danny asked as he punched the ghost from the behind.

The ghost turned to him and growled, "I am timeless, mortal. Time means nothing to me. I am in every age in the world."

Danny dodged a blast from the ghost and chuckled, "And in all that time you never learned how to shoot?"

Danny shot an ectoplasm ray at the ghost and hit him in the chest, sending him crashing to the ground. Danny landed on his feet and watched his foe stand up and return fire at him. The yellow beam grazed him on the arm and Danny turned abruptly to the right, dodging another blow from the ghost. The new threat looked over his shoulder and looked back at Danny who was charging for another shot.

"Enough of this primitive 'shooting' as you call it," the ghost rose in the air as Valerie charged at him from the other side. She flew right under him and right into Danny, stopping him from releasing his ghost ball. They landed in a bunch of limbs in a patch of dry grass, "Let's get down to business."

Sam and Tucker ran toward their friends, but before they could reach them, they became frozen in mid stride. Danny and Valerie tried to get up, but as soon as they stood apart, they too were frozen. They were all still aware what was around them and the situation they were in, but couldn't move their limbs. The ghost came down and stood in front of Danny.

"So the you're the young halfa," he smiled and tilted his head to the side, "I've heard rumors of you. They do not lie, you _are_ quite powerful."

"Thanks, I'd like to think so," Danny struggled with his voice to talk, "What do you want?"

"It's about what you want," he laughed at the halfa's expression, "Join me and help me become powerful and I will grant your deepest desires. Just think of it, everything that you have ever wanted will become yours. Permanently."

"No dice," Danny squinted, "I don't help ghosts."

"Except yourself," Valerie shouted from next to him.

"This does not concern you, ghost hunter," he waved his hand and sent Valerie flying over the tree line and Danny growled.

"Who are you?" he almost yelled at the ghost.

"I'm Desire," he held out his hand, "You scratch my back and I'll grant you all of your wants."

"Very _original_ name, but I said no. Besides, you can't give me what I want."

"I can't?" Desire looked at him and stared into his eyes, "We'll just see."

His powers probed the young teenager's mind where he found pictures of him and a young woman kissing and holding one another at a dance. Future thoughts of his life to come with the same woman by his side and his best friend standing with them flooded his thoughts.

Desire turned and looked at Sam who was frozen next to Tucker. He stepped toward her and abruptly turned his hand and arm intangible, ramming them into Sam's chest and held to her heart. Sam screamed out in surprise and pain. He began to chuckle at the pained expression upon her face.

"Get away from her!" Danny yelled at him and tried to fight against the invisible binds that held him in mid air. Desire paid no heed to Danny and also saw images of her and a man being married. But instead of future plans of children and growing old, he saw a brief glance in her past and a small black haired boy handing her a flower. A third child joins them and they begin to play.

"You have similar desires of the heart," he whispered to the girl and let go of her heart and turned to Tucker, "But the two of you may be hurt the most by knowing the friendship will never last. Not without the glue that binds you together."

As he turned to Tucker he raised his hand in the air and charged a powerful blast. Sam raised her head ever so slightly to see the huge ball of light. She turned to Tucker and tried to shake her head.

"No…"

"Tucker!" Danny screamed as the ball of light was thrown into Tucker's gut and he was thrown back against the brick wall of the building over and slid down slowly, "NO!"

The back wave from the impact was so powerful that it sent Sam flying away from the scene. She landed with a hard thud, frozen on the ground. Danny couldn't do anything but watch as Tucker dropped to the ground and Desire laughing hysterically.

"Let's see how long you last without that bond, halfa," he smirked in triumph, "I'll be seeing you."

With that the ghost vanished and Danny dropped to the ground, finally able to use his arms and legs again. Sam was the first to reach Tucker and found him unresponsive. She turned when Danny reached them and couldn't talk. Danny held out a hand.

"Phone!" she stumbled a little while the request was being processed, "Sam, your cell phone! Now!"

She quickly gave it to him after the harsh tone he used in his voice and he called for help. Sam sat by Tucker, trying to get him to wake up, "Come on… Tucker…"

"They're on their way," Danny said as he placed the phone back down. He needed to say something in a time like this, some kind of comforting sentence. Unfortunately, that's all he could think of at the time. He looked at his friend unconscious and didn't know what to do. He only knew simple first aid, nothing like this. He quickly transformed back into his human self as he heard the sirens in the distance. He looked at Sam who could only sit and stare with shock. He did the only thing he could think of. He took Sam into his arms and let her cry herself out if she needed it.

She promised herself she wouldn't cry. She'd be strong for her friend. She would be brave. Even when Danny put his arms around her as the ambulance took Tucker to the nearest hospital she still couldn't cry. She sat there in shock as her best friend brushed back her hair with his hand and pushed her head beneath his chin.

"Sam?" Danny asked, his voice trudging through tears and the urge to cry.

Only then did tears begin to flow. Only then did her vision get blurry and her legs began to go out. Danny was holding back for her just as she was holding back for him and Tucker, "Danny…"

"Whoa there, Sam…" he quickly picked her up bridal style as she began to drop to the ground and looked her in her eyes, "Let's get to my house and get the car. We'll get to the hospital, okay? He's going to be okay."

"How can you be so sure?" she mumbled and sniffed. She knew he was going to be the strong one now. He would hold his tears for later. For her, to take care of her now, he would be strong.

"He just has to be," Danny shook his head and held her tightly to his body as she began to go into shock. She didn't even notice the now silent tears flowing from her eyes, as her head lay limp on his shoulder.

'He just has to be.'

**A/N:** Another note from me. Yes, I know I'm evil, but that's the way my mind works at times. It seemed to me that Sam would be a little OOC if I had her sobbing uncontrolably in Danny's arms, but she has to show a strong emotion. I mean, we are talking about one of her best friends. I don't know. If you read the bad summary I put up weel enough you probably know what's happening next. But just to humor you, I"ll pretend this is a ciffe. Yay! Please review and I'll see you next update!


	3. Chap 2: You're All I Got

**Chapter Two:** You're All I Got

A few hours in the waiting room had passed with Tucker still in intensive surgery. Danny had lost count on how many exactly; he had purposely stopped counting at the two and a half hour marker. Tucker was going to get out after they were done saving his life, and that's all there was to it. He looked up as Sam shoved a cup of coffee underneath his nose, waking him back up from his current thoughts. He accepted it with a nod and she took her seat next to him, sipping on her own.

He watched Sam as she, almost in a rhythm, put her cup up to her lips and back down on her knee. She was so lost in thought over their friend that she didn't even have the power to drink coffee regularly. She stared at the white, clean hospital tiles on the floor until she felt Danny staring and looked toward him. She noticed his stare and smiled a little to tell him she was okay and finally took a break from her coffee. She had stopped crying as soon as they got to the hospital. That was also the same time that she was released from her own shock over the incident and noticed the tears. Danny let her wipe them away even though she needed to get it out. But if Tucker didn't make it, he knew they would come back.

They had arrived and told the doctors and the few police officers that were there about the ghost attack. Or more specifically Sam told them about the ghost attack and Danny told them he saw Tucker getting slammed into a wall. Danny was coming to find his two friends after they hadn't showed up at his house for a study group. The police and doctors believed their story. For Amity Park, ghost attacks weren't all that uncommon any more. But with two ghost hunters in town, Inviso-Bill a.k.a. Danny Phantom, and the mysterious girl hunter that rode around on a flying sled, the citizens didn't really worry much. Until tonight.

Sam went toward the little table with the coffee and crackers at the side of the waiting room while Danny asked about some blood that he saw at the scene. He saw it and turned Sam away from it before she could recognize the stain below her friend's head. True, Sam was strong and could take seeing injures and blood, but one thing she couldn't take was knowing that it was blood from one of her best friends of fourteen years. And that it was coming from his head. The doctor took it into consideration before Tucker's parents finally showed up and Danny gave them some room to talk to the doctor and the nurses. He and Sam had told them what happened. His job was done. At least for the time being.

"Danny?" Sam whispered and looked at the dark coffee in her hands, wondering if she should take another drink.

"Yeah Sam?" he shook out of his recent memories and took a quick gulp of his coffee, only to find it was stale.

"I want to thank you," Sam turned to him, "For catching me, I mean. My legs buckled and I couldn't really catch myself. Thank you for being there when I needed you."

"You know you don't need to thank me for that, Sam," Danny took her hand and squeezed, "I'll always be there for you. Just like you're always there for me."

Sam looked down at their hands and gave a small smile, "I know. I just wanted you to know that I do appreciate it."

Danny returned her small smile and then looked up to find a worried looking Valerie pushing through the emergency doors at one of the room. She clutched at her bag thrown over one shoulder and found Danny and Sam sitting at the far wall.

"How did Valerie know we were here?" Danny asked gaining Sam's attention away from their hands.

"She had called while you were still talking with the doctor. I guess she had stumbled onto the field and noticed that no one was there anymore. She called me to figure out where Tucker was- at least that's the excuse that she had given me- and I told her," Sam stood up and brushed off her pants, quickly taking and look back down at Danny, "She doesn't know about Tucker yet."

Danny looked away and Sam walked quickly over to Valerie and gave her a friendly hug.

"Sam, are you okay?" Valerie held her at arm's length and looked her over, "When you said the word 'hospital' I ran almost the whole way here."

"I'm okay… for the most part," Sam said and Danny walked up beside her.

"Hey Valerie," Danny greeted glumly.

"How'd you get here, Danny?"

"When Sam and Tucker didn't show up for the Government study group we had planned together, I went looking for them and found Tucker out cold and Sam trying to revive him."

"My God, Tucker!" Valerie's eyes shot wide open, "Where's Tucker? Is he okay?"

"Valerie, you gotta sit down," Sam guided her to the chairs she and Danny were sitting in only moments ago and squatted in front of her, "There was a ghost that attacked Tucker and I… Tucker… h-he hit a wall pretty hard."

"Sam, where is he?" Valerie stared deep into her friend's eyes.

"He's in surgery. Has been for a few hours now," Sam said sadly.

"Where are his parents?" Valerie asked.

"They're in another room with a set of nurses and a doctor talking about the procedure they're doing with Tucker. At least, that's the last place that I saw them," Danny explained sitting next to Valerie, "They haven't really told us much about anything."

"Damn ghosts. They're all over this city," Valerie hissed, "And I bet _Phantom_ didn't do anything to help him either. Providing if was even there."

"He was and he did what he could," Sam said, "He was… stopped by the ghost and was just as defenseless as Tucker and I."

"I don't see why you defend him, Sam. He's just as bad as the rest of them."

Danny lowered his head into his hands, covering his face from view. Sam looked at him with a sympathetic glance and squeezed Valerie's hands for some kind of comfort. Valerie felt the gesture and gave Sam a small, appreciative smile in thanks. Suddenly, Danny began to chuckle behind his hands and gained a confused look from the girls. He saw them as he picked his head up and covered his mouth.

"I'm sorry," he choked back his laughing, "I just thought that Tucker would kill Sam and I as soon as he figured out that we brought him to a hospital. Well, at least got an ambulance to take him to a hospital."

Sam chuckled ever so slightly, "Yeah, he would flip with how much he hates hospitals."

Valerie giggled through her worry and knew very well about Tucker's phobia, "Remember that one Halloween when I wanted to be a nurse or a doctor and he went absolutely nuts? He dressed up as Death just to spite me."

"You didn't go as a nurse though," Sam said, getting up and sitting next to Danny.

"Nope, I went as an undead patient. Tucker didn't think it was so bad," Valerie began to smile again, "Isn't that the same year you two dressed as a bride and a groom?"

"Yeah two years ago. Sophomore year, wasn't it?" Danny thought back and laughed.

"We always joked that Tucker was 'death' and got in between you two so many times," Valerie and Sam began laughing.

"Yeah, what was it you kept telling us?" Danny laughed trying to think back.

"'Until death do us part,'" Sam put her finger up like she was making a point.

"That was it!" Danny patted Sam's knee in a fast motion.

"Yeah, that was a great year," Valerie smiled and wiped a tear from her eye. She just didn't know if it was from the laughing or her sadness, "How much candy did he get from that haul?"

"I think he bragged about it coming to a good forty some pounds," Danny thought back to that Halloween night, "I forgot how many times he had to go back out. I think at one point all three of us stayed at my place and watched a movie while he kept coming back to unload his stash and go out again."

"It was fifteen," Sam piped up and turned to Danny, "He went out fifteen times and finally collapsed on top of you and me when we were sitting on the couch."

"I remember that huge pile of candy, right in the middle of your living room," Valerie laughed and pointed at Danny, "Your sister got so mad because she just cleaned up from a Senior party she had earlier that night."

"Yeah Jazz was about to bite all our heads off," Danny cringed at the face Jazz had when she came down stairs to see what the noise was about.

"Well, then we got off easy by just cleaning the place up," Sam took a breath, "It was so hard cleaning all that up in that stupid costume."

"You're the one that wanted a corset on it if I remember right," Danny nudged her.

"Yeah, yeah… I may have been in white, but I was still Goth."

"What about that time he entered the first meat eating contest at school?" Danny suddenly switched it to another subject.

"Oh don't remind me," Sam folded her arms and pouted.

"Come on Sam, you got back at Tucker that day," Danny nudged her in the side, "From what I remember he ate so many hot dogs that just the mere mention of the food made him want to barf. You did quite a job of reminding him."

"Just wanted to make my point clear," she began to laugh and the other two joined in.

"But he did win. His pride and glory still stands on his bookcase in his room," Danny said and looked up to find a doctor and Tucker's parents walking toward them. Instinctively he grabbed Sam's hand and squeezed. She turned her head and her smile was gone instantly. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Valerie standing up from her chair and holding her hands together in hope of good news.

The doctor approached the three friends as if he was walking in slow motion. At least, that's what it felt like to Danny. Tucker's parents were right behind him, holding on to one another, their eyes to the floor. Sam squeezed Danny's hand hard and made him look at her. Her face was frozen on the three adults only a few feet away from them. Fear was written strongly on her features and Danny never felt a bigger urge to hold her and to tell her everything was okay.

"Mr. Fenton?" the doctor asked and Danny tore his gaze away from Sam's face and looked at the doctor. It wasn't going to be okay.

"Yes?" Danny asked, regretfully letting go of Sam's hand. Tucker's parents rushed forward passed the doctor and hugged both Danny and Sam tight.

"Thank you two so much for getting Tucker here!" his mother cried into Sam's hair, "I know he would have really appreciated it."

Sam gasped at the few words.

With that one sentence, that one phrase, both Danny and Sam knew that the impossible happened. Nothing was going to be the same. Nothing was going to be okay. Their friend was talked about in the past sense. Because that's what he was now. He was the past, just like memories, just like their unbreakable threesome. Gone. The past.

Danny patted his Mr. Foley on the back and looked over at Sam who was now clutching her eyes shut against Mrs. Foley's dress jacket. He looked back at Valerie who stood there with a question mark almost written on her face. She was going to ask the question, because she was in denial and would stay in denial as long as she could. Just so she wouldn't have to deal with the unbearable pain.

"What do you mean?" Valerie took a step forward, making the two parents look at her, "What do you mean he 'would have' appreciated it?"

"Valerie…" Mrs. Foley let Sam go and ran over to Valerie who stood there in fear of the news. The inevitable… Mrs. Foley hugged Valerie close and began to stroke the girl's hair. She looked at her hand and closed her eyes, "Tucker's gone, sweetie."

"No…no," Valerie began to struggle against the woman. She tried to push away, tried to get away. Mr. Foley came over and also tried to calm down the young woman, "You're wrong! Tucker isn't gone! He can't be gone!"

They had met Valerie around the same time that she came into the group. They knew that she and Tucker were going to the Senior Prom together. And they both knew that the two young people did care for one another. No matter who little or much it may have been.

"No… Tucker's…" Valerie mumbled as Mrs. Foley pulled her against her once again.

Softly the mother whispered in her ear, "We'll drive you home, Valerie. You're dad must be wondering where you are."

As she left with Valerie under one arm she looked back once again at Sam and Danny and gave one last thankful smile to her son's best friends. After his wife left through the doors he turned to Sam and Danny and put his hands in his pockets since he couldn't find any other use for them at the moment.

"I wanted to th-thank," he cleared his throat as tears began to threaten to come up again, "Thank you for everything you have ever done for Tucker. You two have been a constant in his life and I bet he will never forget that. If t-th-there is anything I c-can d-"

"No, Mr. Foley," Danny stepped up to the man, "If there is anything that we can do for you, give us a call. We may have been Tucker's friends, but you are still family."

Mr. Foley nodded and wiped some tears off his face before turning and leaving out of the emergency waiting room.

Danny turned around to find Sam hugging herself and breathing hard in concentration. Concentrating hard on not crying. She was holding it in. Danny walked over to her and with a good foot still between them, Sam launched herself into him, holding him tightly around the waist and burying her head into his shoulder. She was still fighting the urge to cry, and fighting hard. All he could do is wait until the fighting stopped and she would finally let it out.

The doctor cleared his throat and got Danny's attention back on him, "Mr. Fenton, Miss Manson, my name is Doctor Foudnt. I'm sorry for your loss. I don't know because of the tenderness of the situation if you would like to hear the reasoning behind your friend's death or not."

"There is no good reasoning for his death," Sam spat with venom from Danny's shoulder.

Doctor Foudnt didn't hear her and Danny just nodded and helped guide Sam to a small office just down the hall. They sat side by side and Sam still clutched onto Danny, not daring to let go of her last best friend. Doctor Foudnt sat behind his desk and noticed that Sam would refuse to look at him. She just clutched to her friend and looked at the sidewall of his office.

"Again, I am sorry for your loss. Losing a friend this early in life is very hard," he took a deep breath, "When he came into surgery he had a very bad head injury from which he had lost a lot of blood. His skull was fractured- Are you sure you want me to cont-"

"Yes," Danny nodded not missing a beat. It was hard to listen what Tucker had to go through in his last hours of life, but he had to know.

Foudnt only dropped his head a bit and took a deep sigh before continuing, "A piece of his skull had embedded itself into his brain. But that isn't what killed him. It was something in his vital organs; most of them in his abdominal area, where Miss Manson had told us the ghost had hit him. We believe that it was something that the ghost may have done that had stopped your friend's heart and eventually brain activity."

Doctor Foudnt stopped because that was all that he could tell the two. He had no other leads; the death in itself was one of a kind. He had no way of understanding it or explaining it. It was the first fatal ghost attack in the history Amity Park, at least that he knew of. He looked at Danny who had his fists clenched and a blank look in his face. He was stunned, he was scared. Understandably, his best friend had just passed away. The young girl was still holding on to him with the early gloss over her eyes that only foretold of more tears to come.

"The Foley's gave me your parent's numbers," Doctor Foudnt stood up from his chair and began to leave his office, "I'll give them a call to come and pick you up. For the meantime, you two can stay in here."

And that was it, he left and Danny and Sam where left alone in the office. A few seconds passed before Sam could feel Danny begin to move again. His heart began to beat faster, his breathing had become erratic. She looked up at his face and saw him fighting the same battle she was. One against the emotions and against the tears. He was strong for her at the field and he was trying to be strong for her again. But she wouldn't let him this time.

"Danny…" she leaned away from him and loosened her grip on him a little, "You can cry."

Danny gritted his teeth together and finally let out a scream of desperation. He collapsed forward and tears flowed down his cheeks for his friend. His best friend since he could remember. The one who always found a way around problems with his trusty PDA. The one who was there to bail him out when the going got tough. The one who wasn't going to be there anymore, ever again.

A gentle hand landed on his shoulder and his head spun to see who it was and found Sam's worried face looking down at him. He chocked back a sob as he tried to straighten himself up for her. She brushed some of his hair back and stoked his cheek. He looked at her and noticed she was shaking her head.

"Don't do that for me, Danny," she said, her voice full of sadness, "You cry all you need to. You don't have to act strong for me. You gotta let me be the support and strength from time to time."

"You are… and have been more times than I can count," he whispered and hugged her around the shoulders. He buried his head in the crook of her neck where it met her shoulder and wept. He couldn't hold back anymore and thanks to Sam, he didn't have to. She began to rub his back in a soothing motion and ran a light hand through his hair. She was strong and she was his comfort. Always was and always will be.

'Desire will pay for what he's done,' Danny's eyes glowed with rage as he cried, 'He had no right to take Tucker away from me and Sam. There is no way he will get away with it. I'll make sure of that.'

"It's not your fault," Sam said as she was smoothing out his sweatshirt on his back, "You did everything you could, Danny. We both did. So don't you dare blame yourself for this."

"I won't," he coughed at the squeaky voice that came from his mouth and closed his eyes, "And I won't let Desire get away with it either."

He felt her nod her head and a scary thought popped into his head, 'Desire could have taken Sam too. Or just have easily have taken her instead of Tucker.'

Sam felt Danny's grip around her tighten and she hugged him in reassurance that she was still there and wasn't going to leave him. Danny opened his eyes and looked at the small ponytail at the back of Sam's head. He could have lost her just as easily and he could have been left alone. His strength, his support and his will to fight would have all gone down the drain. But she was there, and Hell would freeze over before he would let her go.

"Sam… don't ever leave me," Danny whispered more to himself than to her, but she still heard it.

"Don't worry Danny. I'm not going anywhere," Sam let a few more tears run down her cheeks and waited for her voice to settle once again, "You're all I got."

**a/n:** Yup, sorry all, but I kinda killed Tucker. It adds to the drama later in the story and had to be done for the plot line. Sorry again, please don't kill me. What I would like are reivews though. Please? I'll get up the next chapter soon. I've been in a typing mood ever since I got sick, so I'll get it out without a problem. Please continue to read and I'll see ya next chapter.


	4. Chap 3: Moment of Silence

**Chapter Three:** Moment of Silence

After an hour or so after the doctor left, Danny's parents burst through the door into the office. Danny's head popped up from Sam's neck and stared at his parents. Sam looked behind them to see if her parents also had come to their child's rescue, but no such luck. Why even look anymore? It was useless to even hope.

"Oh Danny," he didn't have enough time to react before his mother took him in her arms and nearly crushed him to death in a choking hold while brushing back his hair, "I'm so sorry, honey. Did the Foley's all ready leave?"

"Yeah…" Danny said with a gulp of breath he had barely taken.

Jack Fenton entered next turning to his son and patting him on the back. For once he wasn't mentioning ghosts. For once he didn't have some kind of ectoplasm ray or gun or capturing device. He was there for only one reason, and that was to pick up and comfort his son. He took over where Maddie had left and crunched his son in a suffocating hug that lifted the teen off of the ground. Jack put him gently back on the ground and held on to his arms.

Maddie looked from her husband and son to Sam who was still sitting in her chair frozen in place. Maddie then looked at the doctor behind them and he just shrugged. He couldn't get a hold of her parents. Not uncommon for the Mansons. They were probably in another over seas venture and could not or would not be reached for days or weeks to come. They could call her grandmother, but what good would that do? She was now living on her own in another state, living up the rest of her life. Not to say that she didn't care for her granddaughter, she just wouldn't know or understand what was going on.

Maddie left from Jack and Danny's sides and knelt before Sam catching her eyes, "You are part of this family too, Sam. You can come home with us tonight, if you would like."

Sam looked into her eyes and couldn't contain herself. She leaned forward and out of her chair, hugging Danny's mother around the neck. She wasn't going to be alone in her mansion. The help would be there, but they would be no comfort. Her parents would be even less, even if they were there in person.

"Thank you so much," she mumbled and sat back in her chair, "You have no idea how much it means to me."

"And me," Danny echoed from the side of the room by his father. He stared at Sam's stunned face and then quickly turned to his mom, "Can we go home now?"

"Yeah, let's get you two out of here, huh? Maybe I could whip up some hot chocolate or something for everyone," Maddie nodded and Danny came over to help Sam up. She gladly accepted and followed the Fentons out of the hospital.

* * *

Later that night Danny sat on his bed in his old gym shorts- which were still too long- and an old white t-shirt, staring blankly out of the window. His half empty cup of hot chocolate sat forgotten on his nightstand as his thoughts drifted in and out. He couldn't help but think about the last conscious thoughts that Tucker must have had going through his mind. What could he have been thinking? Did he know he was going to die later that night on a surgery table? Could he have been pleading for Danny to some how save him from his doom? To help him like a best friend should help another?

Danny dropped his eyes from the window and took a deep sigh, 'And all I did was absolutely nothing. It's all I could do. Nothing.'

"Damn Desire," he gripped a pillow that was within reach and threw it to his floor, "You have crossed the line."

"You think? I'm only borrowing it from your sister for the night," Danny snapped his head to his bedroom door. Sam was leaning on the doorframe in one of Jazz's old pajama sets. It was a dark blue shorts and camisole top combo. She rubbed her arm apprehensively as Danny just kept staring and didn't say one word.

"Well?" she prodded.

"Oh-uh," Danny shook himself out of his stupor, which he hadn't done since lunch earlier that day at school. Tucker had noticed him staring, but luckily Sam was preoccupied in trying to tell Tucker about her new job. Had it only been a matter of hours ago when everything still made sense?

"I wasn't talking about you, Sam."

"Is it okay if I come in and sit with you?" she asked shyly from the door, "Or do you want to think to yourself some more?"

"No!" Danny nearly shouted as he thought Sam was going to turn away, "No, it's okay. It's probably better that I have company. You know, better than talking to non-existent ghosts."

"But Desire isn't non-existent," Sam pointed out and began to walk toward him.

"So you did know who I was talking about," Danny said with a small smirk, "Eavesdropper."

"I wasn't listening in, and even if I was it was only because I was worried," Sam finally made it over to Danny's bed and paused as if she had to think something over. She finally blinked a few times and crawled onto the bed with him. But instead of curling up next to him as she usually would have done, she settled on top of him as if she was sitting in his lap. She leaned back toward him and settled against his chest.

Danny was flustered and a bit confused by the move. He didn't really know what to do next either. Sam was pretty much in his lap and even though he would have normally hugged her, he couldn't seem to remember how at the moment. Not too long after she settled she made it a little easier for him and just wrapped his arms around her waist. She settled back and put her head under his chin.

"I'm sorry if I sorta surprised you, Danny," she whispered, "… it's just that this is the only way I can feel safe anymore. Any kind of normality that I can find in the insanity we call life."

Danny chuckled at her slight poetic explanation for her actions and hugged her, "It's okay. It's the only way _I_ know you're safe for sure."

Sam smiled at his answer and put her hands over his as she studied a picture he had hanging on the wall of the three of them at her 'sweet sixteen' party. It was on board her parent's yacht. She had told them numerous times that she just wanted a normal party at home, but they insisted. And as soon as Danny and Tucker heard of the plans they insisted too. Valerie had come too, but she was elsewhere on the ship at the time of the picture. Probably hanging over some railing throwing up again. She had terrible seasickness, but didn't let it spoil the party. She was such a good sport. They sailed out a good ten or fifteen miles from shore and, with the exception of Sam's parents and Valerie barfing, had a great time.

"Do you think we'll ever have fun like that again?" Sam whispered, still trapped in the memories from the picture.

"What do you mean?" Danny asked searching for what she was looking at and found the small picture, "Sam, just because Tucker is… gone, doesn't mean that we will never laugh or have fun again. It will just be different…"

"It will never be the same," she looked away from the picture at last and out the window.

"He was our best friend, Sam," Danny answered and put his cheek to the top of her head, "I… I don't know if or how we'll get over his death. But I know that we can stay together. Desire did this to separate us. You're all I got and I can't let go of that. I won't let go of that. No matter how hard he tries."

"Good," Sam piped up and began to trace her fingers over his hand lightly, "Then you aren't going to do something stupid like push me away just to protect me, right?"

"You serious? That gives the enemy a clean shot at you," Danny chuckled a bit, "Besides, you're too stubborn for that and I know it."

"Because you know me too well," she interlaced the fingers of one hand with one of his, "What do you think Desire meant when he said that the bond would break without the glue?"

"Maybe he thought that Tucker was the only thing holding you and me together," he thought.

"And that's another thing," Sam took a breath in thought, "Why am I so important that he would want to break your bond with me?"

'Because he saw that you are the most important thing to me,' Danny thought to himself.

He couldn't tell Sam. Not now. Only one other person knew about his feelings for her and that was Tucker. He had a long talk with his friend over the phone a few nights before. The feelings he felt for Sam were growing ever since they were freshman, and even before that. And now, he just needed to tell someone and he knew he couldn't tell Sam. At least not yet. Tucker had kept the secret to the grave, and now Danny had to hold the secret all his own.

"I don't know," he whispered.

Sam looked at the television that Danny had earned after a few years, "You wanna watch a movie?"

"Why not? It's Friday," he shrugged and used his free hand to channel surf until he found a movie. A monster/horror move at that and he quickly got warm with Sam covering him and fell asleep. Sam noticed his rhythmic breaths after a while and turn the television off and also fell asleep in Danny's arms.

* * *

The weekend went by a little too fast for the three friends. Mid afternoon on Saturday Valerie met up with Danny and Sam after they went to pick up a few clothes from Sam's house. They sat down together at Nasty Burger and ate and talked. Soon enough they had to get out of the fast food place before too many memories had come back. They walked the park, the mall, anywhere else they could think of, but in the end they were all back at Danny's house until Valerie left yet again.

Tucker's parents held his funeral the next day. It came faster than Sam or Danny had expected, but the Foley's just wanted the pain to subside and the faster they could put their boy to rest the better. They didn't let the doctor do an autopsy or try to find the exact reason for Tucker's death. It was bad enough that he was dead to begin with; they didn't want to know the details.

Danny, Sam and Valerie stood next to one another at the front of the funeral assembly. Their respected family members behind them, minus Sam's parents, of course. Jazz had finally come in on her plane only to change directly into black clothes and run to the cemetery for the funeral. She had a hand on Danny and Sam's shoulders through the whole service giving them a squeeze every once in a while. She would have done the same for Valerie if she had an extra hand to spare and if her father hadn't all ready taken charge. Danny kept his hand next to Sam's during the whole service and when they were beginning the eulogy and the 'memories with Tucker' portion of the funeral, he grabbed it tight and wouldn't let go. Sam didn't mind. If he hadn't grabbed her hand, she would have grabbed his by then anyway.

Tucker's parents bid their farewells and told the group of people that came a little about Tucker's childhood and his friends that he always kept so dear to his heart. A few family members stood and said something about him to the crowd. About his way of always bringing something technological to the family discussions or how his love of meat sometimes just got too freaky. Danny had wanted to say something. He wanted to shout to the world how Tucker was the best friend a guy could ever ask for. But nothing could formulate in his mind, nothing could function properly. All he could do is sit there and listen.

The funeral lasted only a few hours overall. Valerie turned and left with her father and the rest of the funeral party. Jazz turned to leave with her parents to their car when she noticed that Sam and Danny weren't following. She opened her mouth to call them, but stopped herself. They needed time to grieve to themselves. She was a doctor, she knew about this process all too well. Might as well just let them have their time and meet them at home. Danny brought his car. He'll come home in time.

Sam knelt by the gravestone and looked at the still pristine coffin that laid at the bottom of the six foot hole. Soon he would be covered from sight and buried away from the world of the living. She looked up to find Danny's eyes glowing and tears slowly running down his face. Sam took a rose she was holding through the whole service, kissed a petal and threw the flower into the hole. It was her way of saying good-bye. She had no words just as Danny had no words. That's why his eyes were glowing, that's why he was so frustrated.

She stood up, wiped off her hands and stood next to Danny. They both looked at the stone and just sighed and said the first thing that came to mind.

"We'll miss you."

* * *

The next day was another Monday at Casper High. Kids were running through the halls, gathering homework together before class and trying to catch up in the reading before the school bell rang. Danny and Sam had talked about it the night before with the whole Fenton family if they should go to school. They decided to go. It would be hard, but it is better to get back into the swing of things instead of prolonging it. And they had one another to keep company and give each other strength.

As soon as they entered the school, no one turned to greet them. No one really even recognized their existence. It was normal for them and they continued to trudge through the sea of students to their lockers, which thankfully were right next to one another. Valerie wasn't in their first class together. It didn't surprise Sam or Danny; she was taking it harder than they would have thought. Maybe she did have actual feelings for Tucker. Or maybe they were just overanalyzing it. They didn't know which one for sure.

For once, Danny didn't sit in front or behind Sam, he sat right next to her, which pissed off another student, but he didn't really care all that much. The morning announcements went on and Sam didn't really pay attention and started to doodle in her notebook. Then a grim voice over took the usual happy principle and Sam cringed for what was to come.

"A sad moment for Casper High has passed over the weekend. One of our own students had a fatal meeting with a ghost. The first fatality by a ghost in the history of our town. Tucker Foley was a senior here and will be missed by us all. Please bow your head in a moment of silence for the departed."

Most of the students and even the teacher at the front of the room bowed their heads and then silence was overwhelming. That was until Sam heard some whispering from the front of the class. She opened her eyes to peek and saw that Paulina was whispering to a few of her cheerleader friends. Sam was about to rush out of her chair to tear her apart, but calmed herself down. This moment was for Tucker; she would get back at the pretty princess after class. She didn't care if she was suspended for it. She would get back at her.

At lunch Danny and Sam pulled up at their regular table and pulled out their lunches. They eyed the cafeteria line and found that they were serving Sloppy Joes. Tucker's favorite cafeteria food, practically just plain meat on a bun. The food usually just repulsed Sam, but she even had an urge to go and buy one and set it on the table as if Tucker was just late and was going to pick it up and eat it when he came in from class. Danny looked away and shoved a piece of chicken into his mouth with a bit of lettuce.

"I know what you're thinking," he said after he swallowed, "But I'm not eating that Sloppy Joe if you buy one. And I know you aren't either."

"That damn psychic connection we have. Always gives me away," Sam chuckled and picked at her food.

Danny chuckled as well and looked up to see Paulina coming over to the table. She sauntered over and sat down right in front of Sam and Danny. She leaned forward, ignoring Sam and fluttering her eyelashes at Danny.

"Danny I was hoping you could do me a favor and ask the ghost boy to meet me tonight by the foot ball bleachers? I wanted to ask him something," she said sweetly.

Danny sat there in silence and sighed as he put his fork down and tried to calm down an ever increasingly angered Sam with a hand over hers, "Look Paulina. I'm sorry to tell you this, but I doubt that the 'ghost boy' has any interest in you what so ever. At least not any more."

"Why not?"

"Because your shallow, self-centered and just rude. If you haven't noticed we're kinda mourning a passing of a friend," he picked up his fork and began eating again, "So just back off."

"Now you listen here, Danny! I-"

"Better just back off and shut the hell up," Sam finished for her and stood up, putting her hands on the table.

"What did you just say to me, freak?"

"I said shut the hell up, princess," Sam said with venom, "Get out of that seat and walk your pretty little self over to the popular table and sit the fuck down."

"I'm sorry this _is_ your little, loser friend's seat isn't it?" she smirked and grabbed a Sloppy Joe from a passing student and squashed it in the seat and turned to walk to her table, "Oops. My bad."

"That's it," Sam walked around the table.

"Sam…" Danny said in a warning tone, "I'm not defending her, but don't do something stupid."

Sam turned Paulina back around to face her, "Paulina, I'm sick of you. I'm sick of all your bull shit."

"Then why don't you do something about it, Goth?"

"Fine," Sam grabbed another Sloppy Joe from another lower classmen and shoved it in Paulina's face and hair, "Instead of making your little 'smart comebacks' and 'witty' remarks, why don't you take that moment of silence you failed to use earlier this morning for Tucker and use it right now? Tucker deserves it. And who knows, it may just do you some good to shut your mouth."

"You… you…" Paulina looked at herself and found the whole cafeteria looking at her. Then, all at once, the whole cafeteria flooded with laughter and pointed at the Latino high school princess. Paulina looked at Sam who still held daggers in her eyes and briskly turned and walked out of the room without another word.

Sam turned back to the kid that she took the Joe from and gave him a few dollars, "Here, get yourself another lunch on me. Sorry."

"No problem, that was worth it," the small freshman said and ran off to tell his friends that it was his Sloppy Joe that creamed Paulina.

Danny came up to Sam and put a hand on her lower back, "You okay?"

"Better now," she smiled a little and they went to pick up their bagged lunches and left to the cafeteria to the grass outside.

**A/N:** I don't really know if I would consider this a filler chapter or not... hmmm... I just wanted to get more in depth with the other characters and get Jazz in there one of these millenia. And since she was suppose to arrive that weekend, it worked out. Ina sad kind of way. Way to be welcomed back home by a funeral. I know, action is coming up again soon. At least that's what I have planned. Please review!


	5. Chap 4: Gossip Isn't Always Wrong

**A/N:** Thank you all for the wonderful reviews! Let me see here... Thank you to: AShauni21, Summers Rage, mysterygal02, azngirlchibi, Cat-san, Fey Phantom, xXQuicksilverXx, rikagirls, thechickenlittle and holly. You guys are totally awesome. And some of your reviews have caught my attention, so I wanted to address a few before I got started on the next chapter.

AShauni21: Thank you very much for your kind words. I was really hoping I was keeping their characters in check. Thanks for calming my paraniod writing fears. And don't worry, I keep on rolling along with this fiction.

And there were a few that mentioned the idea of the ghost zone and Tucker's death. I will only say this. Don't jump the gun, the jury is still out on the ending for Tucker you will have to wait and see. Sorry to add, that the Ghost Zone will have little or nothing to do in my fiction. But it's all good. I'm still going and with the pace I'm setting for myself, it will be done in no time... I just don't know if that's a good thing or not.

Now, enough from me. Enjoy the next chapter!

**Chapter Four:** Gossip Isn't Always Wrong

Sam smiled at the last guest as they left, making sure to make a great impression with them since they now held one of the random surveys printed out from the register. The last thing she needed was a bad review on her first week on the job. After the family had turned the corner and walked out of the electronics area, she massaged her cheeks to get the feeling back in them. She pulled out the printer and began to label the messed up video game selves once again. The kids just knock off all the labels every freaking day and she was absolutely tired of it. If she didn't have enough to think about, she didn't need some snot nosed kids knocking off the labeling she had just finished. Besides that, the titles were out of order again, which meant that somewhere along the lines she would have to reorganize them. Or leave it for the next person to deal with it.

"Hey Sam, how's it going over here in R-zone?" David asked from behind her, making her jump in surprise.

"Oh, hi David," she smiled and held up the label printer and laser gun to scan the prices, "Just great. Just making more labels for the games. How's manager life treating you?"

"Just fine, now that the Christmas rush is over we can calm down a bit. I love it how it become so slow about a month and a half after the holiday is over," he chuckled and patted her on the back, "It always seems like a ghost town around here during this time of the year though. Kinda creepy. Like a specter can just grab you by the ankles and swing you around by your-"

Sam looked down at the printer as another label popped out. David covered his mouth after he realized what he said, "I'm sorry, Samantha. I get carried away with myself."

"It's okay, David," she nodded and gave a small smile, "You stopped yourself before making a big mess of things."

"I did, did I? Good to know," he chuckled and elbowed her in the side to get a small laugh from his new employee, "Keep up the good work, Sam."

"Thank you, David," she called after him. The moment was awkward, but he truly didn't mean anything by it and was kind enough to try and catch himself.

She liked calling everybody by their first name instead of by 'sir' or 'ma'am'. It was like she was actually working with real people and not just corporate robots. David was also the type of guy that was funny and happy-go-lucky, where everything was going great and everyone was just plain happy. Sam sometimes envied him for it, but didn't- or couldn't- hate him for it. Just the opposite, she loved him for a boss. The only problem was that he was about thirty years her senior and maybe a little too happy.

David was right though; the Christmas rush had slowed down. She was only hired as an electronic associate because a lot of the other associates in that area in the store had enough with the workload and decided to quit. Sam on the other hand loved the work. Got her mind off of things, and that's what she needed with the drama and real life aftermath of Tucker's death. It was more than a week after the funeral, but she still had small flashbacks to that day and she still felt the sting in her chest every time she saw a new game come in and thought to herself how much Tucker would have wanted to play it. Even if the work began to get tedious, she still did it with a content face. She didn't have to smile all the time, which was a blessing in disguise for her. Her cheeks had enough to suffer through every time she had another guest to ring up.

"Hey Sam, you need a hand with anything in here?" a brunette head popped out from behind one of the other video game racks.

"Hi Jenna," Sam rolled her eyes, "Let me guess, you finished cleaning your section of the store and need something to do?"

"How'd you know?"

"You have 'I'm bored' scribbled all over your hand," Sam grabbed Jenna's hand and showed it to her. Jenna looked at her own hand and smiled sheepishly. She was more of a punk than a Goth, but she was someone that Sam could relate to. She had her lip pierced, which she had to hide because of company policy, as well as three or more piercing in each of her ears. She always had her hair up in some kind of mismanaged style, and yet it always turned out all right in the end. It was actually strange how the smallest of movements made her hair seem so bouncy. Wristbands were her obsession, at least at the moment; there was never a time where she didn't have at least one on her wrists. The only down side to her personality was that she loved gossip and would spread it as far as she could. Not to be mean or malicious, just because she loved to talk and find out what's going on in the world. Well, at least the world around her.

Sam walked from the video games over to her register and hid the printer once again from view, "What exactly would you help me with, anyway? The cleaning is done, I've finally finished the labeling and I have everything semi-organized, at least for the rest of my shift… what could you possibly help me with?"

"I could sharpen your skills on the new demo of Kingdom Hearts!" she squealed and hopped over to the demo Play Station 2.

Suddenly a flashback just hit Sam and all she could hear is a voice in her head, _Please get me the new Kingdom Hearts when it comes in! Please…_

"Sam?" Jenna waved a hand in front of her face, "You still in there?"

"Yeah… just got lost in my thoughts," Sam shook herself out of the flashback, "How about we just play some 'Destroy all Humans' instead, huh?"

"Okay, why not?" she smiled as they both went over to the XBOX system and began to beat the heck out of one another as the human body count began to rise.

After the third or fourth turn, Jenna turned to Sam and began to walk over to her register to sit on the counter, "The truth is, I don't want to be stuck alone in my section. You know with all the talk and everything going around. It's not safe for an unescorted female anymore. Not even in a toy store… how twisted is that?"

"Now what gossip are you talking about?" Sam rolled her eyes as she tossed a digital cow across the field in the video game and called it quits for the time being. She turned around and leaned on the demo system, waiting for Jenna to explain.

"It's not gossip…" Jenna began but saw the look on Sam's face and hopped up on the counter, "Okay, it _is_ gossip, but not all gossip and rumors are lies, you know."

"But most of them are," Sam nodded and sighed in frustration as Jenna gave her the look that she was going to tell her about it anyway.

"Look, I've been hearing about some kidnappings and rapes happening around Amity Park and I'm just worried is all," Jenna rubbed her arm. Sam had noticed that she did that when she was nervous or anxious about something, "They are kidnapping girls our age from anywhere really. Malls, parks, stores, even off the streets. No one sees them and no one is able to really report them. Just some semen or something really bad at the scene of the kidnapping- or sometimes nothing at all."

"You're becoming paranoid," Sam said immediately and looked at the games lined up behind the registers, "Those three video games aren't alphabetized right, are they?"

"Sam," Jenna said in an annoyed tone, "Aren't you a least a little bit scared about this? I mean, they've never found one girl alive… or even a body yet."

"Would it be better if they had found a body? Would it make you feel better or more secure?" Sam asked and Jenna shook her head while Sam went back to the case behind the registers, "Now, seriously tell me… are those three actually alphabetized? Because I keep moving them around and someone keeps moving them back."

"Well H does come before I in the alphabet, right Sam?" Jenna chuckled a little, "And you call me crazy."

"She calls everybody crazy," Danny came up behind the two girls and scared the heck out of Jenna who fell backwards and landed behind one of the registers. She let out a little yelp and stood up quickly, brushing herself off.

"I'm okay," she announced and hopped back up on the counter.

"Hey Danny," Sam smiled, "What brings you by?"

"A new controller," he holds up an older PS2 controller that was broken in half, "Kinda had another incident with the new ghost boomerang."

"I thought your dad took that with him this morning when your parents left for the ghost conference," Sam asked.

"Yeah, but you know my dad. Always forgetting something… unfortunately it had to be a metal boomerang hunting for my head."

"All right, say no more," Sam shook her head, "I have more in the back. You want blue, green or black?"

"Green is good… uh, you got a bathroom in this place?" he asked and rubbed the back of his neck.

"It's by the dressing rooms on the far side of the store. Better run fast," she joked and he nodded as he ran toward the 'far side of the store'.

"Who was that?" Jenna asked, actually interested in the new boy that popped into electronics.

Sam was in the storage booth, looking for another green controller in the mess that she still had to clean, "Who was what?"

"That boy- or should I say man… is he gorgeous."

"You mean Danny?" Sam popped her head out and struggled to get out of the mess with the green controller tight in her grasp.

"'You mean Danny?'" Jenna imitated Sam, "Yes, Danny. Wow… He have a girlfriend?"

"No… not really," Sam said and began to whisk herself away into her own dream world and out of the way from Jenna's questions.

"Ah, you mean 'not yet'," Jenna jumped off of the counter and stood in front of Sam's register as she began to get ready for a sale, "You like him more than a friend, don't you? Oooo, Sam's got a crush on her friend."

"Don't be ridiculous, Jenna," Sam shook her head, "I've known Danny since we were practically in pull-ups. I doubt that it will be going any further than what it is."

"But you would like it to," Jenna said in a sing song voice.

"Can we shut up about it now?" Sam looked into her eyes.

"And defensive, not a good sign, Sammie," she chuckled as she heard Sam growl.

"And don't you dare make any gossip about this. I don't want to hear other people in the store talking about my personal life," Sam warned.

"Me? _Make_ gossip?" Jenna pointed to herself as if in shock, "Oh no, my dear friend I only spread it. Never start it. It only causes problems."

"Imagine that," Sam mumbled and saw Danny come back into the department.

"Well, my section needs tending to," Jenna said in a sly voice and walked to Danny sticking out her hand as she did, "Nice to meet'cha, Danny. Name's Jenna, kind of Sam's trainer around here."

"Nice to meet you," Danny shook her hand cautiously.

"You too, later Sam," Jenna bounced out of the electronics department.

"Later Jenna," Sam had slapped her forehead with the palm of her hand and was cradling her head, "I'm sorry, she must be on another one of her sugar rushes."

"Now I understand how you got so lost your first couple of days here," he chuckled a little and looked at the controller in Sam's grip, "So what's the damage?"

"No damage, although I do have a high suspicion that something had hit her head when she was very young," Sam pretended to ponder about her co-worker.

"I meant the damage on my wallet," he smiled and pointed to the controller.

"Oh, twenty-seven thirty," she looked at the computer screen and took the cash from her best friend.

"How long until you're off?" he asked as he pushed the bag inside his large pocket in his sweatshirt.

"In another fifteen or so," Sam looked at the clock on the computer screen and sighed in boredom, "Man, it's so dead in here. And there is no way I'll be able to finish sorting the games before I go."

"Wanna pass the time on some video games?" he pointed to the systems.

"I guess so," she smiled and began to play Mario Baseball against him, "Have you played this one yet?"

"No, but I hear it's okay," Danny shrugged and stayed in the second player position, "So what was Jenna so happy about?"

"Different things," Sam replied and picked her team against Danny's.

"Like what? What kind of high sugar product to ingest next?" Danny laughed as his character stepped up to pitch.

"No, at least she hasn't told me yet," Sam hit the ball for a two base run, "She told me that she's actually scared more than anything else at the moment."

"Why's that?" Danny's eyes furrowed with the concentration on the game.

"She says there've been kidnappings all around Amity Park," Sam punched one of the buttons on the controller and got two of her runners home.

"No way! How'd you do that?" Danny frowned and let go of his controller.

"It's called practice. I get too much of it in here," Sam smiled and looked over her shoulder to find her next shift coming in to R-zone. She checked the clock and found that he was early. I didn't matter to her all that much, that meant the faster she could get out of there and more time she could spend with Danny, "Come on, next shift is here and I can't wait to get out of this ghost town."

"Hey Sam," a man a few years her senior had greeted as he punched in to start work.

"Hey Derek. You're a little early today. Not that I mind at all," Sam swiped her card to punch out and smiled, "How's life been treating you?"

"Oh, it's all good, you know," he smoothed his hand over his recently shaved head, "Nothing could bring down a debonair guy such as yours truly. I'm just too good for anything bad to happen to."

"Right… also too full of yourself, too."

"Hey! I resent that," he pouted.

"Okay," she shrugged and laughed to tell him she was joking and handed him the communications booklet from the counter, "Everything that needs to be done tonight is in there for you. Have fun tonight."

"Leaving me so soon?" he frowned and flipped through the pages to find the right date.

"Sorry, just made plans," she nodded over at Danny who was still standing by the system they were playing on, "Danny this is one of my many co-workers Derek; Derek this is my best friend Danny."

"Hey there," Danny stepped forward and grasped Derek's hand firmly, telling him in his own way he didn't appreciate the flirting between the two and finally turned to Sam, "So, where are we heading?"

"I thought we could stop by the Nasty Burger across the street," Sam said handing her walkie-talkie and keys to the case over to Derek who was still shaking his hand from Danny's grip, "See ya later, Derek."

"All right, later Sam," he chuckled and nodded to Danny as they left.

* * *

Danny and Sam made it out of the building without anyone really noticing other than the front desk where Sam had to get checked out. They crossed the street and found a small booth rather easily. Danny ordered and paid without hesitation and went to sit back down. Sam looked out the window to the parking lot and found her car still sitting in the employee parking. Then she noticed that she couldn't find Danny's car anywhere in the parking lot. 

"Danny, where's your car?" Sam asked and Danny waited until their drinks were set down and the server left before he answered.

"I flew over," he sipped on his drink, "Don't worry, I was invisible too."

"I'm not going to stress over it. You're pretty careful bout that kind of stuff."

"Yeah. Um, not to say that I wasn't listening earlier… but what was it that Jenna was so scare of again?"

"You were too absorbed in the game, weren't you?" Sam smirked and Danny nodded, "I was talking about the recent kidnappings and rapes around the city. You know, all of them around my age."

"You worried about it?" he let the server set down Sam's salad and his cheeseburger and then the server walked off to let them enjoy their meal.

"Not all that much," Sam shrugged, "It doesn't really seem to register with me. I mean, we've never had anything like this happen here before. I guess I just don't really see it as a threat. Don't know why."

"I know what you mean," Danny nodded and ate some fries.

"It must be horrible for those girls though," Sam poked at her salad and slid a piece of hair behind her ear, "I'd rather kill myself than live after a rape. It would be too much for me to deal with."

"Why? It's not the end of your life, you know," Danny said trying to bring in some common sense.

"Yeah, but to a woman, well most women, the one you give yourself to is the one you are bonded with. When they take your virginity, they also take a part of you. It's something that has to be given, not taken by force," Sam chewed on some of her lettuce and looked at Danny, "At least that's how I always felt about it. Just to think that some one could take that from me or any other girl or woman is just atrocious."

"Nice word usage," Danny smiled, happy he could find another route of conversation.

"Thanks," Sam said sarcastically and began to chow down on her salad. Unknown to the two of them someone was listening in and laughed a little. Once they got outside and on the roof they began to laugh louder at the conversation they overheard.

"I was lucky that the halfa didn't sense me," Desire smiled to himself, "So she would rather die at her own hands than to be taken by force? That's interesting."

Desire looked over the top of the building and in through the window where Danny and Sam continued to talk and laugh, "Since my original attack and strategy didn't work in tearing them apart, why not let her do the tearing herself? My new pets will help in the process. And then I have a clear shot in creating misery for the boy. But I will have to do a little test first…"

**A/N:** And Desire is back! Dun, dun, dun! What's in store for Danny and Sam in the next chapters? Sometimes, I'm not even sure myself. Finally, I got Sam working. It took me a little while, but I finally got there. Thanks for the reviews, I love you all. Keep them coming please, I will keep coming with the chapters.


	6. Chap 5: I'm the Hero, Don't Save Me

**Chapter Five:** I'm The Hero, Don't try to Save Me

It was a cold, desolate building. The kind of huge, run down, dilapidated building you would expect to find on Halloween specials or in ghost movies. Except this wasn't a movie and the screams and cries that echoed through the halls were from true terror and hopelessness. It was the old, abandoned hospital at the edge of town. Ever since the ghost bug incident no one had been up there, no one wanted to use it or even felt the need to use it. And Desire saw it as a perfect place for his new pets and subjects to 'set up shop' as they told him.

Desire flew over the building a few times and dove in through the ceiling happy with the new little plan forming in his head. The two men that were helping him now were normal, average men that had to work hard to earn their living. They were both reaching middle age and were capable of causing some major injures to who ever got in their way. Just two down-on-their-luck guys that wanted a break. And Desire was that break.

They had no power to give him, no extreme advantages for his mad power search. But they did give him one thing, and that was the understanding of the wants and needs of a human's mind and body. He let them kidnap girls and young women and keep them here to do with as they like. He keeps the police from catching on to them and makes sure the screams and pleas for help cannot be heard by the nearby city limits. They have their lustful desires fulfilled and he gets to learn everything he can about an average human. Both male and female of the species. They had enough females in the building for Desire to observe for quite a while.

As he fazed through the roof he popped his head into a room where the two men had a young woman around nineteen strapped to a chair. They kept chiding her about what they were going to do to her body and kept teasing her. Asking one another if they should kill her or not after they were done with her.

"Well, well… Are you boys having fun?" Desire flew in from the ceiling and landed on the floor watching the two men torment the poor young woman.

"Much," one said in a scruffy voice, "What's going on, Desire? Decide to join the fun?"

"Thank you for the invitation, but I have a bigger prize to be won," Desire said in a bland tone, obviously uninterested, "I want you to do something for me."

"It depends on what it is," the other replied and walked over to talk face to face with his partner and the ghost.

"I want you to kidnap and break this young woman," Desire put his hands together and when he separated them a picture of Sam came into view, smiling and talking with some co-workers, "She's very important to someone who is in my way… and in turn, your way as well. Can you do this for me when I have given you so much?"

The picture of Sam began to fade and the two men looked at one another, "She does look like fun."

"She also looks like a lot of work," the taller one sighed and then looked back at Desire with a smirk, "We'll do it. I've always said I like the challenge."

"Then it's set," Desire clapped his hands together to make the vision of Sam completely disappear, "I'll make the arrangements and tell you when to strike. Now, I leave you to your business."

"Thank you," one of the men smiled cruelly and turned back to his victim.

Desire smiled in triumph and left the room. A few moments later he could hear the frightened screams of the once innocent, nineteen year old girl.

* * *

Danny walked down the street with Sam and Valerie at each side. Ever since Tucker had passed away Valerie had kept closer tabs on Danny and Sam than ever before. She came over to Danny's house to keep them company and say hello to Jazz while she was on break from her internship. Valerie just didn't want anything to get between her and them. She was, in a very big way, paranoid about losing the two friends that she had left. Sam had the same fear about losing Danny for a couple of weeks after the incident, but found that he stuck to her like a shadow, unless she was at work. She liked the feeling of being watched over and decided it was something she could tease him about every once in a while. 

"Sam, are you ever going to move back into your parent's house?" Valerie asked as they walked toward the mall.

"I don't know," Sam thought about it for a minute, "It kind of seems like an empty void over there even if my parents happen to be home. Besides, I like the fact that I get to have a sleep over at Danny's almost every night. Jazz doesn't mind and the guest bedroom is really comfy."

"Good to hear," Danny nodded, "The last time we got use out of the room was when we had Vlad over that one time. And I doubt he got any use out of the bed since he was up every night trying to find a way to steal the ecto-skelton from my dad."

"What?" Valerie asked from the side, "You can't mean Vlad Masters?"

"Oh yeah," Danny nodded, "He and my dad had a falling out and he's been trying to get back at my dad ever since."

Danny had to conveniently leave out the portion about how he was up most of the nights trying to fight Vlad back so he didn't take anything of importance from the lab. Or try to kill his dad in his sleep.

"He seems like a nice guy to me," Valerie shrugged and kept walking with them, "I mean, that's the impression I got from the few times I saw him."

"Here we are," Sam announced and motioned toward the mall's double door entrance, also happy for the change of conversation topic, "I'm heading for Hot Topics, how about you two?"

"I'll go with you," Danny raised his hand, "I have always wondered what drew you to that place anyway."

"Yeah, you never stayed to find out. You and Tucker always ran off to the nearest video store and let me be for an hour or so."

"What about you, Valerie?" Danny looked at her to see if she was okay from the sudden mention of Tucker. It was becoming easier for him and Sam to talk about him, but Valerie still seemed unnerved by it now and again. For once he didn't see her squint or close her eyes to compose herself, she just gave them a small smile and looked to her left.

"I spy a new clothing store. I'll meet up with you guys at the food court after an hour or so. How does that sound?"

"Sounds great," Sam nodded and they split to go their separate ways. After Valerie was out of earshot Sam turned to Danny, "She didn't register it. I think she's growing numb."

"We went through it too if I remember right," Danny said referring to a week back when they didn't respond at all to their friend's name, "We just went through it sooner."

"We knew him longer," Sam sighed and walked into Hot Topics with Danny close behind. The cashier looked up and saw one of his favorite customers. He had his hair dyed a bright green and had it up in a Mohawk. He had a nose piercing, not to mention the few dozen more piercings in his ears.

"Hey there, Sam," he smiled and waved.

"Hey Nathaniel," Sam smiled back and motioned to Danny, "This is my friend, Danny. First time in the wonderful word of Goth accessories."

"Ah," Nathaniel nodded his head in understanding, "I got some more bracelets and earrings in, so enjoy yourself."

"Always," Sam grinned and walked Danny around the store looking at the different shirts and accessories. Danny felt unnerved by the whole experience, he wasn't used to the store or to the other punks and Goths surrounding him. He did notice a few other people who seemed to be under no labels, just regular people walking around, looking at the different shirts.

"Danny, lighten up," Sam jabbed him lightly in the stomach, "Goths and punks aren't the only ones that shop here, you know."

"I see that," he nodded and looked at the shirts to his side.

"Danny, what do you think?" Sam held up a pink shirt that had a 'My Little Pony' on it and plastered a smile on her face, "Is it me?"

"You're scaring me, Sam," he said in a rushed voice and his eyes wide open.

"I thought so," she nodded and put the shirt down.

Suddenly, from the back of the store, one of the aisles of bodices and jewelry tipped over. Clothes and items went flying all around the small store and Danny covered Sam with his body to protect her from any debris. When they both looked up, there stood Desire. He had a huge grin on his face and looked around the store as if he was looking for something or someone in particular.

"Ghost time," Danny growled and looked at Sam who had daggers in her eyes while she spotted the ghost, "Sam?"

"I know," she looked to her side to see that Nathaniel and the others probably ran to the back room. She shoved Danny to her side and into a changing room.

"I'm going Ghost!" Danny shouted and transformed, flying back out of the changing room passing by Sam and rushing toward Desire, "Sam, get out of here."

"Like that's going to happen," Sam scoffed and got the thermos out from her bag that was slung over her shoulder.

Danny didn't even have time to look over his shoulder to check if Sam did as she was asked. He flew fast toward Desire and punched him directly in the gut before the ghost saw him. Desire hit the ground and looked up at the ghost-boy.

"Well, well, well… I did find you here," he chuckled, "How are you doing these days, halfa? I heard that your friend didn't make it."

"Like you didn't know what would happen," Danny snarled and charged up his hands for a plasma ray, "You killed Tucker. And I made an oath that I made sure you paid for it."

"Oooo… violent now, are we?" the ghost chuckled, but stopped when Danny hit him hard again square in the face with a high energy plasma ray, "Okay, enough playing."

Desire created a large blast and shot it directly at Danny, crashing him into a far wall. Danny slid down the wall and hit one of the displays of a few dozen-fairy shirts. As Desire charged for another shot he was hit from behind with a purple colored plasma ray.

"Get away from here, ghost!" Valerie shouted from her jet sled, "Or I will make you regret the day you died."

"I never died, because I never lived," Desire roared and hit her off of her sled and into some comforters and pillowcases at the corner of the store. Valerie hit the back wall pretty hard and twisted her ankle. Desire stood over her and began to glow with a bright light, "Let's see if we can't rejoin you with your late friend."

"Get away from her," Danny tackled Desire from behind, making them both intangible and flew through the sidewall and into the next store over.

Valerie struggled to get back up, but fell back down a few times. Sam ran over to her and handed her a few torn pieces of clothing and a couple of metal bars from the broken racks for a splint, "Here."

"Why are you doing this for me?" Valerie asked from behind the mask, fearful that Sam may all ready now who she was, "You don't even know me."

"I don't want to see anyone get hurt," Sam replied and tied off Valerie's leg, "Now, don't move."

"Wait! Where are you going?" Valerie asked as Sam ran out of the Hot Topic store and saw her Goth friend barely dodged a plasma ray coming at her, "God… Sam, be careful."

Danny fired a few dozen shots at Desire and missed all but two shots in the specter's side, "Not as good of a dodge as I am, Desire. Give up."

"Give up when I faired so well last time?" Desire snickered and rushed forward, pinning Danny to the wall, "Tell me… because I am quite curious. You want to see your friend again? What exactly would you give up to see him alive? To tell him everything you wanted him to know?"

"Like you could help with that," Danny growled, "You're the one that took him away."

"And I can bring him back if that is what you desire," he reached his intangible hand into Danny's chest much like what he had done to Sam before and grabbed a hold of his heart. Danny screamed out in horror and pain as the ice-cold grip tightened in his chest. Desire opened his eyes and saw flashes of Tucker back to normal and strolling the mall with his friends, picking out a tux for the prom with Danny in the fitting room right next to his. He probed deeper into Danny's wants and needs and saw a much deeper desire. One that included the girl in a nice dress, with multicolored lights surrounding her. Desire let go of Danny's heart and glided back from the ghost boy for a moment.

Danny tried to recover quickly, gripping at his chest and looked up at the ghost, "Don't do that again…"

"I was wondering, to get back your lost friend… would you give her to me in his place?" Desire turned his head to the side and Danny followed his gaze until it landed on Sam who was holding the Fenton thermos.

"Sam," Danny whispered. Desire chuckled and shot a large beam directly at Sam. She saw the beam heading directly for her, but just like before, she felt frozen in place. Her legs wouldn't operate and she felt like she was cemented to the ground. Danny took off like a shot and raced toward Sam. He grabbed her around the waist and tackled her down to the floor and away from the blast.

"That's exactly what I thought," Desire smiled to himself and disappeared in a flash.

Danny looked down at his best friend that was now pinned beneath him. He took her face in his hands and looked into her eyes, "Sam, you okay?"

"I'm fine, Danny. Thank you," she said sincerely and saw Danny take a huge sigh of relief.

He turned around to find that Desire was gone and he dropped his head back to Sam and helped her up, "I thought I told you to get out of here."

"You should have known that I don't follow orders very well," she brushed herself off and watched as he turned back into regular Danny, careful that no one could see him, "Especially when one of my friends are in danger."

"I have super powers, you don't!" he leaned toward her, pointing to his own chest.

"That doesn't mean that you are unbeatable, Danny!" Sam yelled back at him, "I was trying to help you!"

"Well, don't!" he turned away from her in frustration.

"Why not?" she stood behind him, her rage growing.

"I'm the hero here, I got to protect you."

"Is that it? Because you got the hero ego on your brain? 'Look at me, I got the super powers, so I gotta save everybody! Screw my own well-being!' You're important too, Danny," Sam argued from behind his back.

"No, that's not it."

"Then what is it?" she turned him around so she could see his eyes and found his face was worried… even sad. He took a deep breath and it looked like he was trying to hold something back, when he just blurted it out

"Because I care about you too much! Okay?" he sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He closed his eyes to compose himself once again. Once he opened them he found Sam staring at him with a confused and surprised look on her face. He looked up at the ceiling and couldn't believe what he had just said. With another deep breath he looked back down at the floor and kicked at a piece of debris from the fight.

"Let's just find Valerie and go home, okay?" he whispered and Sam just nodded.

They made it over to the food court where Valerie finally limped herself over to one of the tables. Sam and Danny came over and looked at her foot, which was now in the proper bandaging and not the crude bandaging that Sam had explained to him only a few moments ago.

"What the heck happened, Val?" Danny asked.

"Let's just say there were some crazy shoppers today," she smiled a bit, "You guys okay?"

"We're all right," Danny nodded.

"No _major _damage done," Sam mumbled as she traced some wooden gain patterns on the food court table. Danny took a glance look back at her and noticed her eyes were cast downward.

"In that case, if you two don't mind, I'm going to head on home. My dad's outside ready to pick me up. He rushed over as soon as the news bulletin went out that there was a ghost in the mall."

"Okay, we'll talk to you later, Valerie," Sam nodded and hugged her friend as she hobbled out of the mall's front entrance.

"I think we should head home too," Danny said in a low voice. Sam nodded once again and followed him out. They walked in silence all the way back to Danny's house, which wasn't like them at all. Jazz even noticed a slight change in their attitude when they got home as they went to their separate rooms.

Jazz quirked an eye brow and set down the newspaper she was reading from, "It looks like it is time for another big sister, little brother talk."

Jazz climbed the stairs and walked by Sam's temporary room where the radio was playing some Evanescence and she could also hear Sam's faint voice humming along with the music. She then continued on to Danny's room and lightly tapped on the door.

"Yeah?" came the faint reply and she opened the door and popped her head in.

"Can we talk?" she asked.

"Do I ever have a choice with you?" Danny smirked and she took that as a yes and closed the door behind her. He was on his bed, staring at the ceiling and trying to count the small dots in the texture.

"What's going on between you and Sam?" she blurted out as she took a seat in Danny's desk chair and sat by his bed. That was Jazz for you, straight to the point.

"Nothing," Danny said and looked at her, "Don't worry about it."

"I worry when you aren't talking to the only best friend you have left," Jazz nodded her head in her explanation, "You two left here with Valerie and couldn't stay away from one another, and you come home and go straight to your _separate_ rooms. Usually you two are up here together watching some TV."

Danny sighed and sat up, "There was a ghost attack at the mall today. It was the same ghost that killed Tucker."

"Oh my… was anyone hurt?" Jazz asked as she moved herself to the bed to comfort her brother.

"Valerie got her ankle sprained, but there was nothing real serious," Danny looked out the window and could faintly hear Sam beginning to sing along with Amy Lee on her radio, "Sam almost got hurt. I saved her just in time… and I yelled at her for trying to help."

"Why?"

"Because I don't want to see her hurt, Jazz," Danny got up from his bed and stood at the foot of it, "I know she has been ghost hunting by my side from the very beginning. But after Tucker, I don't want to loose her too. She means a lot to me, not that other people don't. She's all I got left. Sure, there's Valerie and you and Mom and Dad. But…but…"

He put his hand to his head in frustration. He didn't know how to explain it, especially to his sister. Sam was special and she meant so much to him that it hurt, but he didn't know how to put it in words.

"You love her, Danny," Jazz said softly from the bed and she smiled at her brother who did a complete one-eighty and looked at her square in the eyes.

"Wha- what?" he grabbed the footboard of his bed and tried to catch his breath.

"It's different," Jazz laughed and helped her brother back to his bed, "The way you feel about her, I mean. She's different from everyone else around you. I've seen it in the way you look and act around her. You had to realize it sometime, Danny. I just hope that you can get it through your thick skull that people who care about you will risk everything to help you. People who love you will gladly put their lives on the line to make sure you will get home safe. That includes Sam."

Danny fell back on his bed. The realization had come fast and swift like a hard punch to the jaw. Yeah, he knew he had a crush on Sam. He knew that he felt something past what 'just friends' would allow. He was in love with Sam and he now could admit it to himself, thanks to his sister. But to say it to Sam… how was he going to pull that off?

'Great, I can fight ghosts from another dimension, but I can't tell my best friend that I love them?' Danny sighed and looked at Jazz, "So what's your advice?"

"Hey, I'm doing an internship to become a doctor, not a psychiatrist," Jazz threw her hands up.

"Jazz!" Danny whined.

Jazz got off his bed and went toward the door, "Look Danny, as a sister, I say that you follow what your heart tells you. Yeah, you don't want her to get hurt. But she's not going to let you go out there all by yourself. You just got to deal with the fact that she will always be in as much danger as the rest of us. She has to deal with the fact that you are in that mortal danger constantly… knowing that you are out there fighting for her and she can't do one, single thing to help."

Danny cringed at the things he said to her, '_I have super powers! You don't!_'

"Just take it slow, huh?" Jazz asked from the doorway and Danny nodded. She closed the door behind her and passed by Sam's room to hear another song come over the radio and Sam still singing along with it. Jazz smiled and continued down the stairs to finish her paper and get dinner ready.

Unknown to Jazz or Danny, Sam was having the same turmoil in her own head. She knew that she loved Danny. More so than a friend… Even if she didn't want to prove Jenna right at work, she couldn't deny it in her head. And now to know what he said… it was confusing as hell and she didn't know how to take it. Maybe she would talk with Jazz after work the next day. It would help her get things off her chest and out in the open.

She began to whisper to herself under the sound of the radio, "This would be a hell of a lot easier if he wasn't my best friend…"

**A/N:** And next chapter... complete. Yeah, I'm proud of myself. I can write like heck if I have the right muse. And right now that is Danny and Sam. Okay. Now on to write my next chapter. If I am good neough I might be able to finish it tonight or tomorrow morning... hm...


	7. Chap 6: I'd Kill To Tell You

**Chapter Six:** I'd Kill to Tell You

Danny spread out on his bed after school. He had planned to invite Sam into his room to help him put his senior portfolio together before next week. Knowing him, he will be up until three or so in the morning right before class. Sam already had hers done, along with most of her other senior projects. Danny, on the other hand, still had over half of them to do. She told him that she wanted to talk to Jazz for a little bit before she had to go to work. She's been down there talking with Jazz ever since they got home and now he was bored out of his mind.

Everything was beginning to slow down as far as classes went. Students were getting hyped up about the Senior Prom that was still a good month away. Everyone was roaming around the school, looking for possible dates. Some students were looking for just a body to take so they wouldn't miss a once in a lifetime occurrence. Others were looking for that perfect person to spend all the slow dances with and gaze deeply into their eyes.

A goofy grin had plastered itself on Danny's face as he began to daydream. He had a dream version of Sam in front of him, in a dark evening gown. There was a faint sound of music in the air and the faint mumbling of other couples around them. He gazed into her eyes and put his hands on her hips and just began to sway at their own pace. Those amethyst eyes just pierced into his soul and he couldn't feel himself leaning in toward her until his lips made contact with…

"A pillow?" Danny asked as he woke from his reverie and realized the harsh truth that it was only just a dream. He tossed the pillow to the side and put his hands behind his head, interlacing his fingers.

'Maybe I should ask Sam to Prom,' he smiled again. It had been quite a while since they went to a dance together. And they never went as more than friends. It would be a first for them both. Their first date.

A deep sigh made it's way out from Danny and he turned on his side. It was a great thought, but the problem was having the courage to ask her. Just like he had to have the courage to tell her about how he had fallen for her. And that courage had failed him the night before after they had dinner. He was ready and willing and then the courage and the right words fled off into the night, never to be heard from again.

From the first floor he heard Jazz's voice telling someone to have a good day and heard Sam's voice call back and the front door opening. He sat up and looked out his window to see Sam walking out the door and to her car. She hasn't driven it lately, since they usually just took his car wherever they needed to go. She looked up and saw Danny staring out his window. She smiled and gave him a wave. Her red shirt was hanging on her arm along with her nametag and walkie-talkie headset. She was on her way to work. He smiled and waved back and watched her drive off.

He lost track of time. He couldn't have been out of it for that long, could he? Taking a quick glance at the clock at his bedside he found out he had spent a good hour just thinking about Prom and Sam. More Sam than anything else. That was mostly thanks to Jazz for making him realize he was in love with his best friend. He probably didn't even hear her knock on his door to say good-bye before she went to work.

"This is ludicrous!" he said a loud to himself and jumped off his bed. He grabbed up his sweatshirt and pulled it over his head, only to stop midway, "How do I even know that word?"

He pulled the shirt the rest of the way down and just pushed it off as something that Sam would say and he just picked it up. He nearly tripped over some pictures and paper he had on the floor next to his bed, "Okay, I feel really strongly for her, why should I just sit here and let it get the best of me? I mean, if I feel this way and she feels the same, then shouldn't we be together? I mean…"

He slapped his forehead with his palm and grabbed his car keys, not really minding where his own feet were taking him. Suddenly his head had a meeting with his doorframe as he turned to leave. He stepped back a few steps and just shook it off. He rubbed the injured spot as he closed his door behind him and went down the stairs.

'Great now I gotta tell her with a bump the size of the Himalayas on my forehead,' Danny thought to himself and called out to Jazz that he was going to be out for a while. He closed the front door before she even had the chance to ask why.

* * *

After a good three hours of arranging overstock, Sam felt the need to change pace. She stood by a cart full of boxes from the last truck shipment and began to cut open the tape and stick the electronic security tags on the merchandise. Thank God for box cutters and the handy printer to help her find places on the shelves for all the new accessories. Although, truth be told her mind wasn't totally focused on unwrapping and opening boxes. Her mind was still drifting in and out of reality. She found herself thinking back to the night before after dinner. After dessert Danny asked her to come to his room so they could talk.

**Flashback**

_Danny walked ahead of Sam and opened the door for her. She nodded in appreciation and saw that he had pictures and papers piled on his bed. She walked over to the bed and looked over the mountain of memories, silently noting that he had closed the door to his bedroom behind them._

_She picked up a very old picture from the middle of the pile and smiled. It was a small picture of a little girl, maybe three years old, with her hair in a half ponytail and in a sundress. She had a few band-aids on her knees and one on her cheek below her right eye. To her left there was a small boy the same age with black hair and a plain tee shirt and jeans on. They were sitting, or in the boy's case hanging, on the jungle gym in a small park for kids. Sam absentmindedly rubbed her fingers over the aging photo. It wasn't that long ago, was it? The chance meeting that bloomed into a life long friendship… it felt like it was only yesterday._

_"You remember that?" Danny asked from over her shoulder. She jumped a little in surprise, thinking that he was still at the bedroom door. She smiled a bit and looked at the picture again, forgetting the present all together let her feel more relaxed. Let her reconnect with the past and forget everything raging war on her conscious._

_"Yeah, that was the day we met. I still can't believe that your mother just happened to have a camera," she chuckled and put the picture down back on the pile. She saw other pictures of the years following. She found one and picked it out of the pile with a light laugh._

_"I can't believe you actually saved this one," she showed it to him and he groaned._

_"I thought I burned that one…"_

_"I'm glad you didn't."_

_It was a picture when the three of them where in the first grade. They all had the same class together and in the picture there were suppose to be painting a picture of an imaginary creature with their fingers. In the photo Tucker was trying to walk around Sam and Danny when he accidentally tipped his cup of paint too far to the side and poured it all over poor Danny. Sam was oblivious to the accident and was smiling for the camera, showing her messy fingers covered in paint. It was a miracle she didn't get splattered too with how close she was sitting next to Danny._

_"You were so upset that your unicorn was destroyed you didn't talk to Tucker for the rest of the day," Sam tossed the picture back down and looked all the others over. She found other notes, and cards that she had sent him over the years._

_"It was a dragon…" he mumbled._

_Years seemed to pass by before her eyes and Sam never noticed how many experiences and good times they all had together. Or even when it was just her and Danny in the pictures, she always knew it was a good time._

_"What is all this, Danny?" she sat at the end of his bed and looked up at him._

_"I just felt like sharing some memories," he sat on the floor, just next to her, "And… I wanted to make sure you knew something."_

_"What's that?" she looked down and knew that he was struggling with what he wanted to say. He always made that low sound from the back of his throat when he was thinking of how to say something so it wouldn't get screwed up when it came out._

_"I'm sorry for how I acted earlier. I just want you…" he paused, shook his head and looked at her, "You're special, Sam. You're important to me. Just know that, okay?"_

**End Flashback**

She sighed and picked up more of the merchandise and walked it out on he floor where she could find a place for it. She has been so wrapped up in her and Danny's trip down memory lane and the apology that he gave her that she didn't really notice that she was almost done with the freight from the truck the night before. After cutting down the boxes, she put them on a cart and waited by her register. She would find something to do at one time or another. Hopefully…

David suddenly hopped around the corner and walked straight up to Sam, "What's wrong, Sam?"

"Nothing," she gave a small smile, "I just finished with the freight, and now I'm just waiting for some one to come along so I can help them."

"You all ready re-labeled the games?"

"Yup."

"The accessories for the systems are all in order?"

"Yes sir," she stopped him from taking another breath by answering his next question before he even had a chance to ask her, "And I cleaned and dusted the shelving units. Alphabetized all the games in all their pricing categories, swept up the booth and scraped the old tags off of the empty slots."

"Glad to see some one on top of things in here," he smiled and looked around the surrounding area near the registers, "Now how many hours until you go home?"

"I'm here until closing," she sighed and he turned around laughing.

"Now, you make that sound like it's a bad thing," he winked at her and walked back toward the director's office, which was located at the side of R-zone. She rolled her eyes and took a deep breath. The only thing with closing at Toy-R-Us is that you may have been scheduled until thirty minutes after closing, but you don't get to punch out and leave until everything is cleaned and all the re-shop is put back on the shelves.

Sam sighed and walked around the registers to look at the area right in front of her. She didn't feel like playing more of the video games, because she has all ready played all the games on the demo disks to begin with. Besides, she didn't really feel the incessant need to play, even if she may be really close to being bored to death.

David bounced out of the director's office and had a piece of paper in his hand, "Hey Sam, just to tell you, you got a good report on your last survey."

"Thank you," Sam took the piece of paper and began to look it over a bit. A good score will always help her. David looked up and found someone walking into the electronics.

"It looks like you're suddenly going to get busy."

Sam picked her head up from the piece of paper and saw that Danny walked into R-zone, "Okay, well, I better get to work then."

"That's the spirit," he patted her hard on the back and walked back towards the accounting room to go over the counts made earlier that morning. As he passed Danny he bowed his head a little in greeting and flashed a toothy grin, "Good evening, sir."

"Hi," Danny picked his hand up in a half attempt at a wave. As soon as David passed him he walked over to Sam and chuckled a little under his breath, "I never thought you would want to work in a place where you have to be so happy all the time."

"I don't have to be happy all the time," Sam put a hand on her chest, "He's my boss, he's been here for years. He's just used to it by now. I don't know if he even knows how to frown."

"Yeah, that's weird," Danny rubbed his arm and looked away. Sam quirked an eyebrow at her friend.

"You okay Danny?" Sam asked and touched his arm, which didn't help him at all.

'No, I'm crazy,' Danny thought, but instead heard himself reply, "Yeah, yeah! I'm okay."

"If you say so," she shook her head and walked over to put the piece of paper at the side of her register, "So what did I do to earn a visit?"

'Your you…' he thought again and had to hit himself upside the head, "Um, nothing really."

"Another boomerang accident?" she inquired as she turned around and pointed to the small lump forming on his forehead.

"Oh- that? No," Danny said, "Nope, just wanted to see you."

He noticed that he made her smile- and, wait… was that a blush?

"Well, thank you for keeping me company," she turned around again and looked for something. What she was looking for was a mystery, even for her.

Danny took a deep breath. He had been sitting at the Nasty Burger across the street, trying to compose himself. He gave himself encouragement and tried to get himself to a level to where he could at least get in the store with out running away. Now that he was there, he had to take the next step and tell her what he came to say.

"Actually, Sam," Danny started, but stopped in his tracks when she turned to him and tilted her head to the side slightly, "…uh, can… Wh-when you get off of work, can you- I need to tell you something, okay?"

"Okay," she looked at him strange and put a hand to his forehead, "Just promise you look at that lump when you get home. You're acting really weird."

"All right," he pretended to look at a watch on his wrist, "I gotta get going. I'll see you when you get home."

"See ya," she smirked.

As Danny left R-zone David came walking back with a contemplating look on his face, looking over the papers in his hands. Danny smiled to himself and decided to have some fun before leaving. He tapped David on the shoulder.

"Yes, sir?"

"Hi," Danny grinned, "I just wanted to tell you that the girl in electronics is doing a great job. She answered all my questions and is very knowledgeable."

"Well, thank you sir. I'll pass on the news for sure," David grinned back and went in to tell Sam.

"Just three more hours to go…" Danny saw a clock on one of the price checkers and sighed. Just enough time for him to get his mind back in working order.

* * *

Around nine-fifteen Sam and Jenna were shooed out of the store after the clean up effort was finally over with. They both smiled and poked at David on their way out, in their own way playing around with him. He once again pushed them toward the door and laughed as they skipped off toward their cars.

"Sam…?" Jenna asked shyly, "Can you walk me to my car?"

"The street lights are still on, and as I recall you always park under one."

"Please," Jenna moaned and Sam sighed as they made the trip over to her friend's car, which in turn will only delay her to getting to her car and to the talk with Danny.

"You want me to drive you to your car?" Jenna asked, unlocking her front door while looking in through her windows just to make sure.

"No, I'll be fine," Sam smiled and hugged her friend briefly before turning and walking toward the side parking lot of the store. As she passed by the front entrance if the store again she saw a dark colored SUV parked in front. Sam just shrugged it off and kept walking briskly to her car. Some parents don't understand the concept of 'close at nine' and try to bribe or talk their way in to find the perfect gift before the birthday party the next day.

As soon as Sam got to her car she unlocked it and jumped in, only to notice that some of the branches of the bush in front of her car seemed higher than what she remembered. She sighed and put her bag and keys down to look around her car. And loll and behold, the tires were flat.

"Damn it," she cursed lightly under her breath. She was about to turn to get to her bag to find her cell phone when she remembered that today of all days she forgot it on the bed in Danny's guest room. She rolled her eyes and finally noticed something on one of her front-end tires. She knelt down and touched the tire only to find that the tire wasn't only flat, but it was slashed.

"That doesn't look good," she mumbled and looked around briefly before looking at the store to find that the lights were off and that David probably snuck off to his car in the few minutes she walked Jenna to her car and was probably half way down the road by now. She looked back at her car and it's pathetic tires and let out a deep breath, "Well, looks like I'm walking. I should have taken the ride from Jenna."

"Yeah, you really should have," a deep voice, said from behind her.

Before Sam could turn around to see her attacker, they wrapped their arms around her waist and held her hands down at her sides.

"You have just chosen the wrong girl," she growled and brought her elbow back hitting the guy in the gut. He barely flinched and she went for the second approach. She brought her combat boot from the ground and stepped him on his instep. He howled and took a step back with her in tow, but did make the mistake of loosening his grip around her arms. She brought her fist up and hit him square in the nose. He let her go and gripped at his nose.

"Now get out of here and leave me alone!" Sam yelled at him.

He stood straight once again with a little blood trickling out of his nose. The lighting was going out and Sam couldn't read all his features correctly. She was ready for him to charge at her again, what she wasn't expecting was another attacker. Before she even heard the approaching footsteps a hand hit her behind the head and she dropped down to the ground barely conscious. She tried to fight with her mind as the darkness totally clouded her vision. She felt one of the guys pick her up and carry her to what she supposed was a vehicle, but her mind stopped processing when she felt herself thrown into the back of a car.

"This one _will_ be fun…" one of her captures whispered before she felt her mind surrender to an unconscious state.


	8. Chap 7: Lust is a Desire

**Chapter Seven:** Lust is A Desire

Jazz sat in the family room, slowly flipping through the paper. She all ready read over the main stories and was looking desperately for the business section. She finally found it and flipped it open and leaned back into the plush armchair right by the radio. As soon as she got to the second paragraph Danny came down the stairs, looked at the door and then turned to walk back up to his room. Jazz looked at the stairs confused and then looked at the clock. It was a few minutes passed ten at night. Sam was running late from work. Jazz shrugged and thought that she probably just had a lot of re-shop to do.

After another five minutes passed, Danny came down the stairs again and looked at the door. Sighing, he turned to go back to his room when Jazz stopped him.

"Danny, I swear if you're so worried, go get her at work," Jazz sighed and put the paper in her lap for a moment, "She's probably just labored with re-shop."

Danny trudged down the stairs and collapsed on the couch to the side of Jazz's chair. He put his feet up on one of the armrests and stared blankly at the ceiling. He was thinking intently again. He always just zoned out, looking at the ceiling when he was trying to figure something out or when something was bothering him. She knew he wouldn't talk about it to her unless she prodded into his life, but she did enough of that the night before. Every once in a while she heard a sigh from his direction and, truth be told it was distracting from the paper.

Finally on the fifth sigh she put the paper away, seeing it as a lost cause and turned to her brother, "What's on your mind?"

"I'm going to tell her tonight," Danny said as if he was prepared for Jazz to ask him.

"Just out of the blue?"

He tilted his head back and looked at her from the top of his eyes, "Is there any other way where I won't get freaked out by it?"

"Don't you think it's a little… rash?" she asked. He sat up and turned his whole body to face her.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, what is your plan? Just have her come into the house, sit her down on your bed and blurt it out to her?"

"Yes actually…" he rubbed the back of his neck and looked to the floor, "Is that a bad plan?"

"You might want to spruce it up a bit, Danny," Jazz gave him a sympathetic look. Danny looked at her, nearly pleading for her to help him. She was a girl, she was female. She could at least throw him a bone and tell him how to do this properly. Or at least do it in a way in which he won't look like a complete idiot while trying to pull it off.

He watched her as her eyes roamed to the side of the room in thought. She looked like she was going to say something, but held it back. She had her reasons to keep stuff to herself, but this was a life and death matter. At least to Danny it was life or death.

"Any thoughts here, Jazz?" Danny asked.

"I have a few, but I can't tell you them," Jazz smiled and gave a light chuckle under her breath. She looked at her little brother who looked just about ready to blast her head off. And with his powers he was more than capable to do so, "What?"

"Help me! I drowning here!" he threw up his hands in frustration and started to pace the room, "I'm going to tell the only girl I ever loved that I am head over heels, fallen deeply in love with her as soon as she walks through the door- which could be any minute, mind you- and all you can say to help me is, 'I have a few, but I can't tell you'?"

"Danny calm down," Jazz chuckled at his stress, "You need to breath first off, we can't have Sam finding you blue in the face and passed out on the ground, now can we?"

Danny took a deep breath and began to pace once again.

"And stop pacing, you're going to wear out the wood," Jazz scolded him and he started to float right above the floor, still pacing in mid-air. Jazz just slapped her forehead and then pinched the ridge of her nose, "Danny, sit down."

Danny did as he was told and sat on the couch beside his older sister, "I just don't know what to do, Jazz."

"Yes, you do," Jazz nodded and put a hand over his, "Danny, you and Sam have known each other since you were three. I bet you two know each other better than you know yourselves. You know where to take her, you know what time and you know how to tell her. You just need to breath and think about how much easier it will be once you cross that little hump."

"Yeah, but that little hump may be the big problem of rejection," Danny moaned and looked at the ground again.

"Somehow, I doubt that," Jazz smiled like she was hiding something and pulled him up on his feet, "Now, I suggest you go and get her from work and tell her exactly what you need to. And I'm not letting you back in the house until you do."

Danny smirked at his sister, "You know I can go ghost and sneak back into the house, right?"

"Not if I turn on the ghost reflector," she said in a singsong voice and pushed him out the door, "Now go bring her home. It's going on ten-forty and I know you two have senior meetings tomorrow."

Danny never wiped the smirk off his face. He turned ghost before she pushed him out the front door. He turned around and hugged his sister before she had the chance to react. She was surprised, but hugged him back and ruffled his hair before he went invisible.

"Thanks Jazz."

"Your welcome… any time," she whispered and felt the cold air disappear as her brother left through the front door.

* * *

As the cool air flew past his face on the way to Toys-R-Us, Danny pushed all the options through his head. He had a few ideas that included him pulling her down to sit on the curb of the street and just blurting it out, but none of them were anywhere close to the 'romantic, one in a life time' event that he wanted it to be. It was special and he didn't want to screw it up by just letting it slip from him. He wanted it to be intentional and nice. He slapped his forehead and spun in the air a few times. He didn't know what to do, but he would have to figure it out fast because the building was looming in the distance. 

Another train of thought took place of his current headache and he began thinking that he could probably sneak in through the roof and scare the heck out of Sam by sneaking up behind her. He didn't want her to see him coming through the windows, so he approached from the back. He landed on the roof and pushed his head in to find all the lights were off and everything was totally shut down. No one was left in the building. Not even one manager or night crew.

"Maybe they just got out," Danny rationalized and popped his head back out and started to fly over the edge of the building where her car was usually parked.

Once he looked over the edge he saw Sam's car parked where she designated her parking spot and something out of the ordinary. And something that scared him to death. Surrounding her car were three or four police cars and yellow police tape covering the surrounding area. Danny almost fell from the sky from fear, but gained his abilities back before he plummeted to the ground. He gently lowered himself to the ground behind a few bushes and transformed back into his human form. He gripped his chest as his heart pumped erratically. He swallowed and turned the corner to seem like he was walking down the street to meet Sam.

He soon found his feet carrying him as fast as they could toward the scene by themselves. He was no longer in control, his feet, legs and body were all acting on his fear and primal emotions. Sam could be hurt or worse and he had to be there for her. As he neared the car, two police officers saw him coming and came to intercept him.

They both wrapped one arm in front of him and stopped him from going any further, "Whoa there, son. Where do you think you're heading?"

"That's my friend's car! What's happening?" Danny finally regained control over his body and continued to struggle against the officer's hold, "Sam! Sam!"

"Calm down, son," one of the cops holding him grunted.

"Where's my best friend?" Danny yelled, feeling fear envelop him. His eyes were turning green and he knew he could easily break through these two men with his powers. But he didn't want to spill his secret in front of half of the police force in Amity Park.

"Wait! It's okay. Let him through… please," a voice said from behind the officers. The two men looked back, "He's Sam's best friend."

The officers sighed and let him through. Danny rushed past them and found that it was Jenna that let him come through. She was standing alone by the bumper of Sam's car while her own was parked only a few spaces away. Apparently she was the one who stumbled upon the scene. Danny quickly walked over to her and held her by her upper arms, and stared in her eyes.

"Jenna… Where's Sam?" Danny asked with a shaky voice, half knowing the answer.

Jenna took a few deep breaths so she wouldn't break down again, "I- uh… I left my earpiece with Sam… before we walked out the door to our cars. She w-was holding it for me while I put a piece of merchandise on the overstock. I came back here to see if she left yet and to get my earpiece back when… I found her car like this and S-Sam was g-g-gone."

Finally she just broke down again and Danny helped her to stay on her feet. He barely knew her, so he didn't go as far to hug her, but he helped her stay together. His body began to go into shock and he tried to keep his brain from spinning as he went through the different options of what had happened, where Sam was and more importantly, if she was okay.

"What the Hell happened?" he whispered to himself.

"We're not quite sure yet," a tall woman who looked like a detective said as she walked toward them. She stopped in front of Danny and asked one of the other officers to help Jenna calm down. She held out her hand, "My name is Detective Chasin. I'm heading up the case."

"Daniel Fenton," he nodded and shook her hand, "Sam is my best friend."

"I heard," she nodded, "I was wondering, what made you come here tonight?"

Danny should have seen this coming, so he just took a deep breath and went along with the questioning, "For the past few weeks Sam has been living at my house in the guest bedroom. Her parents are out of the country and Sam didn't want to be alone right now."

"May I ask why?"

Danny closed his eyes, "Our best friend since we were three passed away."

"I'm sorry to hear that," she bowed her head in sincerity, "Please continue."

"When she didn't show up by ten, I started to get worried. My older sister told me to come a get her, instead of pacing around the house. I thought that since Sam brought her car, I should walk and we both could ride home in her car. I was expecting she had a lot of merchandise to put away… not this."

Detective Chasin looked over the car and then at the young man. He was extremely worried about the young woman, more so than other family members she had to deal with in past cases. He cared deeply for her, and she had her suspicions that it was more than past just friendship. He had a right to know what they had found out so far.

"We found her bag and keys in the car," she told Danny who turned back toward her, with tears in his eyes, of which he quickly wiped away, "It wasn't a robbery. Or a car jacking since they cut and shredded the tires. We found some blood a few feet away, but we don't think it's hers. I'm not going to lie to you, Daniel. I believe that this is linked to the kidnappings and rapes that are happening around the city. Sam could be and probably is in a lot of trouble."

Danny's eyes began to produce more tears and he tried not to grind his teeth together, "What can I do?"

"Sit and wait patiently. If you can and want to, search around town to where she might go if she escaped. Do anything you can," Detective Chasin nodded and looked toward some of the police units, "But for right now, there is nothing more for you to do. I suggest you go home and get some rest."

"Um," Danny searched his pockets and found a pen and a scrap of paper and quickly jotted down his home and cell phone numbers, "This is where you can reach me or my sister. Please, keep me updated."

Chasin took the piece of paper and nodded, "I will."

"Thank you…" Danny chocked out and quickly tried to walk away the scene before he too broke down. He knew he wasn't a suspect, but was no better at being a witness either. Sam was missing, more than likely kidnapped and he couldn't help her. He wasn't there for her. And now, he had to find her.

Once he knew he was out of sight of the police and of the detective he transformed into Danny Phantom and flew into the air. He shot straight down the street and looked for any other vehicle out on the road. Find any trace of Sam or anyone that may have taken her. He saw a few more police cars routinely going along their beats and a few sports cars, but nothing out of the ordinary. He took a deep sigh and felt his eyes glow with both fear and anger. Who ever took Sam was going to pay and that's all there was to it.

He flipped open his phone and called Jazz, "Hey… Jazz? Um-"

He took a shaky breath, "Danny? Are you okay? What happened?"

"It's Sam…"

* * *

Sam groaned and felt her head before she even opened her eyes. There was a good-sized bump toward the back of her head and she knew that she was lucky to even wake up. A hit like that could have killed her if it was aimed at the right spot. Slowly she opened her eyes just enough to take in a little light and figure out where the hell she was. She was waiting for a huge flash of light to burn her eyes from the inside out, but it was dark in her room and cold to boot. 

'Apparently not people who like electricity,' she groaned a little and propped herself up on her elbows. She felt around on her hands and knees, and found that it wasn't that big of a room at all. Just a metal floor with four metal walls and, by the feel of it, a thick metal door.

She wrapped her arms around herself in a last ditch attempt to stay warm. She was kidnapped before she could grab her jacket out from the back of her car. Then the whole fact of the situation hit her hard. She was kidnapped. Taken from the side parking lot of Toys-R-Us by two men. Two men that have not only been kidnapping girls and young women, but raping them as well.

Sam's breathing quickened and she slid her hands over her clothing to check for any tearing, rips or cuts. Everything was in place and nothing seemed like it was ripped off. She put her hands to the floor and took a deep breath. She pushed herself up and on her feet. Taking a few steps, she was relieved in part to feel no sore muscles or what could be any bruising. It seemed all that she had endured was a really bad hit to the head and a major headache. At least so far.

Sam looked back at where she could faintly see the outline of the heavy metal door and walked the short distance to the far wall. She pushed her back up against the cold wall and slid down. Sitting, with her knees drawn up to her chin, all she could think of was how she was going to get out and back to Danny. He was waiting for her and both he and Jazz were probably out of their minds with worry. Especially after Tucker.

She could feel her eyes tear up and she sniffed. She can't just give up. She already lost Tucker. She wasn't going to let Danny down. She wasn't going to let these behemoths rape her. And she wasn't going to loose Danny. Not now, not ever.

Suddenly a scream was heard through the door. It was muffled, but it was still there and Sam recognized it. It was from a young woman. She knew that the scream wasn't just from physical pain or hardship, although that was probably a big part of it. The girl just lost her innocence, her choice to give herself to someone she loved. She was dying inside and the men didn't even care.

Sam shut her eyes tight as she heard the muffled pleading and soft prayers of the girl. She hugged her knees tighter to herself and just buried her head in them. She wasn't going to let them close to her. They won't touch her. They can't touch her.

A few words floated through her head, '_I'd rather kill myself than live after a rape._'

She said those words not all that long ago. She let them roll over again and again in her mind. Was it still true? Would she kill herself if they were able to take her? A shiver went through her body and she fought within herself. Would she take her own life? Could she?

'_It's not the end of your life, you know._'

Sam's head popped up as if he was really there. Right beside her, ready to take her out of the godforsaken place. He wasn't, it was just his words. His thoughts. She stared at the heavy door in the dark and felt as if she could almost burn a hole through it if she could stare just long enough.

Would she kill herself?

"…No," Sam whispered to herself, "I might be raped and tortured by the sound of it… But Danny's right. It's not the end of my life. I have him. And he will come for me. I know he will. I just got to hang on."

**A/N:** Sorry, I don't know why it took me so long to get this chapter out, it just took me some time to put it all together in my head. And if you spot it, you can see I kind of sneaked my own original character in this chapter from my TMNT fanfiction. I don't know if any of my readers on this fic reads my TMNT fictions as well, but yeah if you noticed that, I put it in there for fun. Okay enough of this, I'm off to do another chapter.

Oh! And Happy Halloween everybody!


	9. Chap 8: Following Breadcrumbs

**A/N:** Just to give you all a heads up, toward the middle of this chapter it gets a little... how should I put this? Gritty? It's not explicit, and not hard core. So don't worry about that. This is why it's rated M, folks and it might get worse. Don't worry though, it's not what you all are probably thinking. Just giving you some forewarning.And please review!

**Chapter Eight:** Following the Non-Existent Breadcrumbs

The town hall clock's bell tolled at the new hour. Danny let out a breath of cool March air in frustration. It was going on two o' clock in the morning and he couldn't find anything to help him find Sam. Jazz was sitting at home, watching the ghost portal with a Fenton fisher and plasma gun just in case someone decided to cause some trouble at the Fenton Works. She had called his cell phone a few times to try to get him home, but he didn't listen. He wouldn't give up. Not on Sam.

He rubbed one of his arms with his other hand to try and keep warm. The warm weather hasn't started up yet and he knew he would more than likely catch a cold in the up coming weeks from this, but didn't care. Every so often as the cold air stung his cheeks, he had the question if ghosts could get frostbite run through his head.

Once again his cell phone went off right beneath his suit and he sighed heavily as he knew it was going to be Jazz once again asking him to fly home and get some rest. He wasn't going to do it, of course considering he told her more than an hour ago he wasn't going to come home until he saw at least one sign of Sam. He flipped open the cell phone against his own common sense.

"Hey Jazz," he said dully into the receiver.

"Danny, it's two o' clock," she said sadly, "You're not going to find anything tonight. You might as well come home."

"I told you, I'm not coming home until I find something."

"Like what, your brain?" Jazz sighed and knew that she had hit a nerve, "Danny... I know you love her. I know you're worried, but freezing your ass off is not going to help her. Now get home!"

"Bye Jazz," Danny said as he quickly hung up the phone and put it back underneath his suit.

He took another breath and looked down at the rooftops of downtown Amity Park. He didn't even know that he had made it so far down the main street and into the business portion of the town. The rooftops were all empty and most, if not all, the lights were out in the buildings. People were home asleep and getting ready for the next morning. And here he was trying to follow a path of non-existent breadcrumbs that would lead him to his best friend. He looked away from the building to find only a few cars down on the road below him.

After hovering for a moment he settled on the edge of the city counsel building, "Give me something here, Sam. You're resourceful. You could find a way. Something… anything."

His head drooped a little and he saw a small mini van cutting through town. It looked like it was coming back from an out of town trip. He could barely make out two dark heads from the back windshield. Danny thought it was two kids by the way the two heads kept jumping up and down in the back. He smiled as he thought back to field trips and out of town trips with Tucker and Sam. They would all play in the bus and in the Fenton RV wherever they went. They would play eye spy or shout out whenever they spotted a buggy. It was a time when they had nothing to loose, nothing to worry about.

His mind was ripped from his memories as his eyes caught something from the corner street a few blocks ahead. It was a huge SUV swerving and gaining speed. Danny stood up as the out of control driver was heading straight toward the mini van. It was just after two in the morning and the bars had just closed. From the look of it, someone let their friend drive drunk on the way home.

Danny took off from his perch on the building and flew straight toward the mini van. He flew right above it and saw the SUV coming straight at them. He checked for other cars up and down the street before he began to focus. Touching the top of the van, he heard the screams of the woman driving and the two children in the back seat. His eyes clinched shut and he made the whole mini van and occupants intangible. The drunk driver rushed through the other car and drove directly into a small ditch on the other side of the road. The mini van screeched to a halt and Danny let go of the van to revert it to normal. He landed next to the driver's door and waited for the woman to settle her nerves and come out.

"Thank you so much, Mr. Phantom," she opened the door and looked at Danny.

He smiled at the fact that she referred to him as Danny Phantom and not Inviso-Bill, "Are you and the kids okay, ma'am?"

"We'll be okay," she looked in at the two children in the back seat, "Isn't that right, guys?"

The two kids looked at Danny and laughed. It was a boy and a girl, bout around five years old. They had huge smiles on their faces and the boy was clapping as if he was watching the circus.

"Let's do it again!" he shouted and the girl laughed again.

"Let's not," the woman smiled nervously, "Thank you again, Mr. Phantom. You saved our lives."

"No problem at all. You guys should be getting home, though."

"Right," she turned and got back into the car, "Let's get Lillith home now."

"Can't she stay the night?" Danny heard the little boy whine as his mother shut the car door.

The van slowly drove off and Danny went to examine the SUV in the ditch. He looked in the diver's sweat to find the driver passed out. Danny used his intangibility and pushed the SUV to the side of the road and out of the ditch. He took the keys out of the ignition and took off for the Police station. He left a note with the car keys on the front desk of the station. He was in and out, invisible of course, without anyone seeing him. The drunk would be picked up before he even woke up.

Once again, Danny was flying over the city looking for his clues. Once or twice he felt himself faltering in the air from the lack of sleep and concentration. He shook his head a few times to clear the sleep and landed in central park. As much as he hated to admit it, Jazz was right. He couldn't stay up all night. Especially after using that much energy to help that van. He would have to go home and try again tomorrow. Turning his head to the side to crack his neck a little, he noticed the swing sets and jungle gym a few dozen yards away. He dropped his head and flew back home.

* * *

Sam could feel herself nodding off to sleep. For the first time in hours there was some piece and quiet. From listening to the screams and pleading, Sam had figured out that they had a pattern. She's all ready been in her tiny room for about two days and each day was almost like they had a solid routine. The silent portions of the day meant that the two men were either sleeping or they left to do whatever job they needed to do. Sometimes, Sam thought that they had brought back another girl, or she would hear them sneak into another room to torture another innocent woman. The screaming and pleading would begin again soon. In just a few moments.

Sam shook herself out of her sleep. She didn't want to nod off and give them a chance to catch her off guard. She promised herself that she would be awake and able to fend them off if needed. She wouldn't give them a chance at her. Wouldn't let them get the pleasure of torturing her too.

She turned her head to the empty paper plates and party cups that they push into the room every morning just to make sure she stays alive. It wasn't all that much to eat and she could still see the pieces of meat still laying on the plates. She may be hungry, but she wasn't going to turn back on her beliefs that easy. Turning her head to face the door, she slowly lowered her head to her knees and began to take in the silence.

It was nice. No screaming. No pleading. No anything. Just piece and quiet. It was a place in this Hell to reflect. As Sam thought more about it, it could be just another way to torture her and the others. In the quiet they could remember their family and friends. The people back home who were worried and looking for them would fill their mind and plague them with guilt and fear. Would they ever see them again? Would they ever be able to go home and feel safe once more? Would they die here? Would she ever be able to see her parents or Jazz again? Would she ever see Danny? Suddenly the peace and quiet became her enemy and she wanted it to stop. And it did, just like it always does.

Sam began to count off the moments before the screaming would occur again, 'They should be coming back in three… two… on-'

Sam snapped her head up from her knees when she heard the heavy metal door of her room open. She stood up and shielded her eyes from the dim lights coming from the other side of the door.

"Ah, so you're awake," one of the two men said. He was the taller one and as far as Sam could remember, he was the one she gave the bloody nose to. He cleaned it up since then. The other man was about five inches shorter than the other man and had a scratchy voice. Sam pushed herself against the far wall opposite the two men.

"It looks like she's shy," the second man said and took a few steps toward her.

"What do you guys want?" Sam snapped at them.

"You sweetie," the first man chuckled and the second rushed toward her, grabbing her arms behind her back. She struggled against him and felt something on her lower back. She clenched her eyes as she all ready knew what it was and gritted her teeth. He lowered his lips next to her ear and whispered, "We're going to enjoy breaking you."

"Too bad, I'm going to disappoint you," Sam flung her head back and crushed her head into the man's behind her. He dropped her and she walked away from him and kept an eye on the other.

The first man began to chuckle and watched the second one grab at his lips which were going to become swollen, but they didn't bleed, "I told you she was tough."

"Yeah, yeah," the other said and shook his head, "You're going to pay for that one, bitch."

Sam glared at the man and noticed that her earlier assumption was right. Both of them had erections and she knew what they intended to do with them. She kept a fighting stance that Danny had shown her a few years ago. He told her it was easier to either roll away or jump from the position and if she had either one to use, she was going to. Both of them began to close in on her and the one with the now fat lip was steaming.

"I'm going to enjoy this," the second one growled and Sam had to turn away as he was trying to undo his pants, "I hope you are good at licking."

Sam's stomach turned at the statement and she saw an escape route to give herself a little more time. She turned back at the two men and sneered, "You even try to stick that vile thing anywhere at or in me and I will bite it off."

"You bite it off, bitch, and I will kill you," the second man said, knowing perfectly well that this one means what she says.

"At least I'll go knowing that you will no longer be known as a man," Sam stared him down and the other man stopped him from rushing at her again.

"Remember, we can't kill this one," the first man whispered, "He said we needed to keep her alive."

"He who?" Sam shouted.

"The one who gave us all this," the first man said.

"But who?"

"Some one that is fighting your little boyfriend and needs him out of the picture. He gave us all our wants and in return we do as he says," he grew impatient with Sam, "Now shut the fuck up or we will kill you!"

"He gave you…" Sam thought for a moment and then her eyes widened and she whispered to herself, "Desire…"

"If we continue with this I will fucking tear her head off!" the second man said.

"Then we will do this another time," the first one said and looked at Sam at the side of the room, "I bet our little guest will enjoy a day with out food. Have a good rest, Samantha. We'll be back."

Sam watched closely as the two men exited the room and she heard the locking mechanisms on the door slid into place. The footsteps echoed a little as they walked away. Her legs finally gave out and she dropped to the floor from exhaustion. She was more tired than she had thought, and they could have taken advantage of it. She looked at front of the room and saw the dull light from the bottom of the door. They forgot to turn the outside light off.

As her eyelids began to close, she began to hear more screaming down the hall. She covered her head with her arms and covered her ears with her hands. They were abusing another girl, another woman instead of her. They were screaming instead of her. They were the one dying inside instead of her. And she wept for them. On the inside and out tears flowed. And this time, in the midst of all the screams, she finally found a way to sleep.

* * *

_"Danny?"_

_I know that voice. Where is she? I need to find her, "Sam?"_

_"Danny! Please help me… Get me out of here. Find me."_

_"I'm trying… I can't see…"_

_Darkness… a deep fog… I only see an outline of her. Just out of me reach. I need to reach her. I got to find her._

_"Danny?"_

_"I'm coming!" I'm so close, Sam. I can almost reach you._

_"Ahh!" a bright light suddenly burned my eyes and flashed of a building flew in front of me. It seemed so familiar._

"Danny?"

"I'll get to you!" Danny shouted as he sat up straight in bed.

"Whoa! Slow down, little brother," Jazz sat down a plate of food by his bedside. She pulled his chair to his bedside and tried to hand him some juice, "Nightmare?"

"You have no idea," he brushed his hair back with his hand and tried to catch his breath once again.

"Maybe you should stay home today," Danny took the juice from her, trying to avoid her worried glance, "It's a Saturday. You can just rest for the day. Get some energy back."

"No dice, Jazz," Danny sipped on the juice and stuffed some pancakes into his mouth, quickly swallowing them down, "I gotta find her."

"At least get some warmer clothes on and finish eating," she sighed, got up and walked out of his room, knowing she wasn't going to change his mind. Not about this.

Danny took quick gulps of pancakes and juice and jumped out of bed. He pulled on his white shirt and sweatshirt, which was on the ground from the night before. He found a semi-clean pair of blue jeans and stuffed his wallet in his back pocket. He carried his plate and cup down to the kitchen and deposited them into the kitchen sink. Jazz stood just under the kitchen doorframe, waiting from him.

"You want me to come with you this time, Danny?" Jazz asked.

"I need you to watch the portal," he said, getting some plasma rays and some Fenton gear and stuffing them in his pockets.

"Nothing is coming out of that portal anytime soon, Danny. We both know that," she walked up next to him, "You've been going out every night for the past week and a half. Flying over the town, you always come back empty handed."

"Are you saying that I need your help to do my job?"

"Danny… Sam needs all the help that she can get," Jazz frowned.

"I'll be home late, don't wait up like last night," Danny stepped around her and was about to walk out the front door when he looked back at her, "Thanks anyway, Jazz. But this is something I gotta do on my own."

"I understand," she nodded and heard the door close. She quickly picked up the phone and dialed, "Valerie? Hey, you want to go looking with me today? … Okay, I'll be over in ten."

Danny took a deep breath and began to walk down the street. He wasn't going to go flying yet; he always did that under the cover of night. With the portal closed he didn't have to worry too much about the ghost problem. Which meant that all of his extra time was spent looking for Sam.

He walked down to the corner coffee shop and got a little something to completely wake him up and continued down the street. He had no idea where he was going, and he didn't really mind. Sam and he always had that psychic connection and in the past he could just be thinking about seeing her, or meeting up with her later and after a few moments of walking his feet seemed to take him directly to her. Maybe they would do the same thing today. Maybe that's what he was missing.

Unfortunately, his feet didn't lead him to Sam, but to a place he has visited many times lately. It was the Central Park playground. Not too many kids were playing on the equipment, one or two were taking turns on the slide, but most of the kids were probably at the new playhouse, fun center in the center of town. It just opened up and many of the kids wanted to try it out. It was all the better for Danny, that meant more time for himself.

He walked over and sat himself on one of the swigs by the jungle gym. He kicked a little at the ground, swinging ever so slightly, back and forth. He held on to the chain and looked at the jungle gym, almost reliving the past that took place over fourteen years before. He smiled a little, but soon began to break down. Tears began to fall and he held his head, leaning forward in the swing.

"Help me find you, Sam. Please…"

_"What's wrong, Danny?"_

His head snapped up fast and he looked around to find no one around him. That voice had to come from somewhere. It just had to. It was a small voice of a little girl, a little girl that he had known when he was four years old.

"I'm just little sad, Sammy," he whispered and looked to his side where he could almost see a faint outline of a four year old Sam swinging beside him, "I… I feel a little lost."

_"Then I'll help you find your way home."_

This voice was a little older, maybe ten or eleven. The little outline grew to fit the new age of his best friend. She was more mature.

"I can find home. I just can't find you," he began to choke on the tears and words.

_"You'll always find me, Danny. 'Cause you'll never loose me."_

Fourteen. He was sure of it. The swing seemed to slow down and she was just lightly swinging a few inches back and forth beside him. Her hair still up in a little ponytail and the rest framing her face; he could see it in his mind.

"I wasn't there for you and they took you from me," he took a deep breath and looked at the ground, "I don't know where you are."

_"Then find me…"_

He looked back at the growing phantom Sam and found the same Sam that he knew today. She was looking so intently at him, as if she was waiting for him to do something. Her purple eyes reaching deep into his soul and into his heart. He reached out a hand and as soon as he touched the surface of the outline, she disappeared, and he was left alone once again.

Was he going crazy? Maybe. But the funny thing was that the hallucinations made him stronger, and more determined than ever. He was going to find her. No matter what it took.

He wiped at his tears and got off the swing. He took a few steps to the side of the grass and picked a small, white tulip from the large garden by the playground.

_"Find me."_

"Don't worry, Sam. I'll find you. I'm coming."


	10. Chap 9: Walls Begin to Crumble

**Chapter Nine:** The Wall Begins to Crumble

For once, the cold, metal floor actually brought a bit of comfort and ease of pain for Sam. A few hours ago the two men, if anyone even considered them as such, came back again to try and take her by force. Of course, Sam still didn't let them win. One grabbed her arms and twisted a bit, but she kicked him hard in the shin and escaped his grasp. Unfortunately she didn't see the other guy right in front of her. He punched her hard in the left jaw and sent her to the ground. She had enough sense to roll away before the other one could pin her to the ground. After a few more hits from Sam- one of which she could have sworn had sprained one of the guy's gentiles- the two men retreated again.

They would be back. Desire would make them. And she'd be ready for them. One thing did confuse her beyond recognition. Why would Desire make the two men go through all the work? Why not just freeze her and get done with it? Humiliate her? Break her?

'Because he's a sick fuck,' she thought to herself and laid herself out on the floor after she heard the last of the locks click into place. The cold metal felt good on her jaw and she felt it almost numbing the thumping pain away.

She pulled her arms around herself in a desperate attempt to stay warm. She knew she was already sick from her exposure to the cold, and not to mention they only feed her once every other day. They did that to punish her for fighting. Apparently the other women didn't put up that much of a fight when they brought them in. They hunted the weak and defenseless. She was an exception. Desire's exception.

Her stomach growled from the lack of food. She was even tempted a few times to eat some of the meat still sitting on her plate. She shook her head and looked away. She wasn't going to go against her beliefs. She was going to fight the temptation, just like she was going to continue fighting them. Hunger was one thing she could overcome. It was physical and it had to do with the body, just like pain. She could numb it away. But she couldn't numb the pain in her mind or her heart.

Every so often the two men and Desire would play mind games with her. Desire had snuck into her room one day when she was asleep and must have peered into her dreams. In it, she was calling out to Danny to come and find her. He did, and they both went home and just stayed in bed. Just laying in one another's arms and forgot about the whole world around them. When Sam woke up, Danny mysteriously was outside of her door, telling her the exact same words from her dream. At first she believed them. Called out to him. Told him to take her away from this place. And then the laughing started. And she knew it was all a lie.

Desire would take on Danny's voice, or the voice of police, Jazz, or even her parents. Anyone that would have the remote chance of finding her and cared enough to bring her home. Most of the times she fell into believing it because she wanted to. She wanted to believe that she was only moments away from rescue. Moments away from home. The ones that hurt the most was Danny's voice. It sounded just like him.

Sam lifted her face from the metal and cringed from the numbness. It would keep away the pain, even if it was only temporary. She walked to the wall and leaned against one of the metal pieces, sniffing a bit from her running nose. She was going to get another sinus headache, but she didn't mind those as much as the swollen jaw.

Looking up, she found a small piece of glass in the ceiling. Probably a camera. She wondered why she had never seen it before now. If only she had a plasma beam to shoot at it like Danny… Danny… She did miss Danny and her temporary home in the Fenton household. She would do almost anything to get back to him.

It's been two weeks since she was kidnapped. There have been twelve attempts to take her by the two men. Each one she's had enough energy and ferocity to fight them off. At one point they actually got her into another room where they made her sit and watch as they tortured another young woman. Sam turned her head away, but couldn't block out the noise. She had to sit and listen to the horrible sound and smell the stench of rape. One of them came up to her after they were done and whispered to her.

'You're next…'

She spat in his face and they threw her back into her room.

As Sam floated back to the present she began to go over the kidnappers actions. They may in fact kill her one day if Desire lets them, but she didn't care as long as she knew they couldn't have her when she was alive. They may have her corpse, but at least her soul and being would be far from it. She would be floating through the clouds and sleeping with angel wings if God would let her in. She would feel no pain, she would have no fears and she would finally be safe for all eternity.

"But that would be giving up, wouldn't it?" Sam asked herself, "I can't die. Even if they never rape me, I still would be giving up if I die. I can't give up on Danny. I never have and I promised I never would. I never will."

"That's good to hear, Sam."

Sam closed her eyes and took a deep breath. The door muffled the voice, but it sounded just like him. His voice echoed through her head and her heart. The memory of his laughter and his smile burst through all the darkness. She wanted to believe more than anything that it was really him. He was really there. He was going to take her away from here and keep her safe.

"Stop playing, Desire. I'm not falling for it this time," Sam spat at the door and folded her knees into her chest and put her chin on top.

"Sam what are you talking about, it's me. It's Danny…" he sounded so hurt.

"Stop it," she said through her teeth, "You're not Danny."

"What are you talking about, Sam? What have they done to you?" was that concern for her? They couldn't fake that, could they? She quickly shook her head.

"You're not Danny!" she began to shout and felt some of her hot tears run down her cheeks. It hurt so much inside to be strong on the outside like this. To keep everything inside where nothing physical could touch. To make herself turn against everything else that was telling her to trust in the voice outside her door. She wanted him to be here for her so much. It hurt more than her jaw. It hurt more than anything.

"Leave me alone, dammit! You're not Danny! Stop it!" she screamed at the door, closing her eyes shut and hitting the metal floor with her fists, "Stop it!"

"Believe me," the voice pleaded with her.

"Then phase through the door," she mumbled. After a moment or two she took a deep breath as more tears ran down her cheeks, "You're not Danny."

"You're not Danny," a voice imitating her came through the door. It was one of the men. She was right. It was just another joke on her. Another game. This time, she didn't want to play.

"You're pathetic," the other one said, "He's not coming for you. If he cared, he would have come all ready."

The two men laughed and began to walk away. Desire's voice was muttering something at them. They laughed louder and kept walking down the hall. They thought it was great fun to torture and take advantage. It was going to be their down fall one day. Hopefully that one day will come soon enough.

Sam clenched her fists tighter and curled into her own ball. Her senses began to shut down as her little cage began to fall away and she curled deeper into her mind. Eventually, it reached a point where she could almost curl into her own world. A world where it was just her and her dreams. It was a place where she was warm and healthy. A place where Tucker was still alive and there was never any Desire. It was a perfect world in her own mind, inside her sanctuary. It was where she and Danny could do anything, be anything with no stupid ghosts interrupting or any preppy Paulina to poke and make fun. It was her call on any and all decisions. It was her world. It was her mind. It was her haven.

She opened her purple eyes to the dark, metal confinement once again. She would never have that world because Tucker wasn't coming back. Desire made sure of that. She wasn't warm and she was sick with some kind of flu. And Danny was still on the outside looking for her. She was sure he was still looking. He would find her. It was just a matter of time.

She was sure he would find her. There was no question in her mind that he wouldn't. The question that was plaguing her was much more sinister. He will find her, but will she still be alive when he did?

* * *

Danny stared at his reflection in bathroom mirror. He just got up only five minutes before hand, and still had to get the signal to his hand to pick up the right kind of brush for his teeth. He's been having nightmares every night for a week. Most of them he can't remember, but he knew they had to be bad. He always woke up in a sweat and tears in his eyes… calling out Sam's name. Nothing made the pain go away. Or the fear. 

Two weeks had already passed and he was almost positive that the rapist must have done just that. Raped Sam. He physically cringed with the thought, both with fear and anger. To think that some one could do that to Sam- _his_ Sam- was unthinkable. The cringing made his hand come to life and it finally picked up the toothbrush and applied toothpaste to it. He shoved it in his mouth and began to clean his teeth.

'_I'd rather die than to live after a rape…_'

He shut his eyes tightly against the memory, '_Why? It's not the end of your life you know…'_

"You got me," he took the brush out and spit in the sink.

The man who even thought of touching and hurting Sam like that will regret coming to Amity Park. Danny rinsed out the rest of his mouth and rubbed the rest of the toothpaste from his face with the back of his hand. He threw his toothbrush back into its holder and he marched out to his room to get dressed. If Sam did keep her word, like she always did, she may all ready be dead. Killed by the man that did this to her, or by her own hand. Both possible circumstances hurt him more anyone could understand. Sam was his support, his best friend and his heart. He couldn't loose all that in one blow. It was bad enough that he all ready lost a best friend; he couldn't bare to loose another one.

After brushing through his hair with his fingers and throwing on some clean clothes he went down to join Jazz for some breakfast. Since she arrived Jazz had done most, if not all, of the cooking. Even when their parents were still in town, she made breakfast lunch and dinner and set the table. Before Sam disappeared she held Jazz in the kitchen.

'Great, now even food brings her to mind,' Danny thought in his mind.

"Hey Danny," Jazz greeted and put some toast and eggs in front of him on the table, "Mom and Dad called again this morning. Asked how you were and how the search was going."

"Just great…" he took a bite of his toast and watched Jazz sit down next to him.

"They said they should be home in another week and a half. They would be home sooner, if they didn't have to be there to sell off some of their inventions to more of those ghost hunting nut jobs," she tried to make a joke, but didn't find Danny laughing, "They're worried about you, Danny. So am I. You've become depressed. Withdrawn… You don't go out hunting anymore, not that there are many ghosts to hunt, but you just float around her or are gone hours at a time, flying aimlessly around Amity. You need to get over this."

"_Get over this_?" Danny looked up at his sister as if she were crazy, "Jazz, my best friend, and the girl that I am in love with was kidnapped. She has more than likely been raped and killed. No one has found her, not one freaking piece of evidence, and I am worried sick about her!"

"We all are."

"But you are telling me to get over it?" he stood up from the table and leaned toward her, "I can't get over it! She is my support and my shoulder to lean on! She's always been there for me! Always been a constant! You think that I can just get over something like that? I can't! I ca-can-…"

His voice became softer and almost weaker. He slid back into his chair and put his face in his hands like the night Tucker had died, "I can't live without her, Jazz. I don't know how."

Jazz took a deep breath and put a hand on her brother's back, "We'll find her Danny. I know we will."

Danny's head slowly nodded. The phone attached to the kitchen wall began to ring and Jazz got up to answer it. Danny put a hand on her arm to stop her, "No, I got it. Sit down. If it's mom and dad than I want to tell them myself how I'm doing."

Jazz nodded and Danny got out of his chair. He took the phone off the hook.

"This is the Fenton residence, Danny speaking, how may I help you?"

"Daniel Fenton?"

Danny froze by the phone. Everything in that moment stopped in time. It's like Clockwork was back and used his scepter to freeze everyone including Danny. He wasn't even sure if he was even breathing anymore. He knew that voice. And he knew that it wasn't going to be good news.

"Mr. Fenton?"

"Detective Chasin?" Danny's voice squeaked and he heard Jazz's chair move against the kitchen floor, so she heard.

"You wanted me to call if we found out anything," she said in an almost monotone voice.

"Yes," he shook his head to function, 'Say you found Sam and that she's all right. Please tell me she's coming home. Please.'

"We found a body near the bank of the central park lake," Chasin began and took a deep breath, "It looks like they are beginning to kill their victims, Mr. Fenton."

Fear. That's all Danny could feel. Absolute, numbing fear that his best friend was dead. They disposed of her by one of their favorite places in town to go and just sit and talk. She waited for him to rescue her and he let her down. It couldn't be Sam. It just couldn't be. Please don't let it be Sam.

"I-is it Sam?" Danny nearly chocked into the phone.

"No."

Relief fell over him like a ton of bricks. She wasn't dead. She was still alive and waiting for a rescue, "Did you find out anything?"

"We found some particles on the clothing that seemed to come from a special kind of medical solution. But according to our medical examiner, no one has used this kind of solution for many years. We checked the local hospitals, but nothing has come up. I'm sorry, Mr. Fenton. Nothing too much more, but I wanted to keep you informed."

"Thank you, I appreciate it," Danny spoke slowly into the phone and hung up. He turned to Jazz, "They found a body."

"Oh my God, S-"

"It's not Sam," Danny reassured his sister.

"Thank God."

Danny had a thoughtful look on his face and looked at the ceiling. A fast flash of a building passed him by and it finally clicked in his head. He let a small smile of hope cross his features and looked at his sister, "But they just gave me a clue to where she is and I'm going."

Jazz watched as her brother turned toward the door, grabbing his sweatshirt from the back of the couch, "Bu- Danny, where are you going?"

"About a week ago I had this dream," Danny explained as he pulled his sweatshirt over his head with his sister hot on his heels, "In it I told Sam I was coming to find her, but I didn't know where to go. All of a sudden a bright light went by and I saw a flash of an old building. I didn't know which building it was until now."

"How did Detective Chasin bring light to that mystery?" Jazz asked, handing him his keys.

"She told me that there was a specific kind of medical solution that no one uses anymore on the clothing of the dead girl," he took the keys and saw the realization rise of Jazz's face, "You were right, Sam isn't in Amity Park, Jazz. She's on the outskirts of town."

"In the abandoned hospital," she whispered, "But Danny how do you know the dream was right?"

"Because Sam and I have a physic connection, Jazz. I needed her to help me find her, and she helped me. Whether she knew it or not."

"You want me to come with you?" she grabbed her coat.

"No," he shook his head, "I'll bring her straight here and I want you to be ready when I get back."

Jazz nodded her head and hugged her brother around the neck, "Be careful little bro."

"I'm bringing her home. I swear it," with that he left the house and flew off straight for the hospital.

**A/n:** I don't know what it is, but this chapter didn't set too well with me, even though I went and tried to revise it a few times. I just hope you all liked it in some small part. I've been looking foward to writing the next chapter, soit shouldn't take me all that long to finish it. I hope you all will continue to read. He's almost there! Next chapter: Guardian Angel in Black. Please review!


	11. Chap 10: Guardian Angel in Black

**A/N:** Sorry it's taken so long, folks. I've ben busy at work, being it's Toys-R-Us and the season, it's been hell. Besides the fact that I'm in the electronics department, but enough of that. Here's the next chapter and hopefully I won't take so long for the next one. Hope you all had a Happy Turkey Day and have a good Christmas Season!

**Chapter Ten:** Guardian Angel In Black

"You two idiots really have to get yourselves together. Not to mention grow a brain," Desire rubbed his temples in frustration, "It's been two weeks and you two haven't even touched her."

"Not true, we have touched her. Held her, pinned her a few times…" the shorter one piped up as he threw ice toward his taller partner to put on his aching crotch.

"I don't mean just physical touching, I meant to touch her in a way to break her," Desire looked back at them and with a wave of his hand relieved the pain from the man's groin, "I've done nearly all the damage to her by acting like I'm Phantom. Her moral and grip of reality is unstable, no thanks to you two."

"We've roughed her up a bit since she's gotten here," the tall one threw the bag of ice back at his partner.

"She's not like the other women and girls in here, you moron," Desire spat and floated in mid air, "She's the kind of woman who doesn't mind if her face will be bruised or cut if she still has her pride and innocence. We can beat her to the point of near death and she wouldn't care as long as she has everything that she holds dear."

"Than what do you want us to do, Desire?" the short one threw his hands up in the air, "I'm tired of going in there and coming out frustrated, empty handed and most of the time beaten. I never knew a woman to have such a good left hook."

"I'm going to help you this time," Desire sighed, "I just wish I didn't have to do everything around here for you two incompetent fools."

"You're actually going to join us?" one said, slightly interested in the idea.

"No, I'm not going to help that much," he charged his hands a bit and the glowing light shot from his hands and into the two men, "It will get some getting used to, but this does make you faster. With any luck, this will be just enough for you two to get her down and … do what you two do the best."

One of the men shook his arms and smiled, "Whew! What a rush. Maybe we should check it out, huh?"

"Sounds like an idea," the other smiled, "Let's go visit Miss Spitfire."

Desire rolled his eyes as his two puppets walked out of the room that they were using for sleeping quarters. He sighed in frustration and felt the pounding in his head begin again. He looked to his side and floated toward a table that had some alcohol. Being a ghost, he didn't have to worry about becoming drunk, and he did enjoy the taste of the human drink. He wondered if in the other times that he had visited in this world had the invention of beer or if it was primarily an item of this one time period.

As he floated, he thought he heard the pounding becoming louder and it wasn't coming from his head. It was coming from the roof. A crash had sounded above his room from the windows and glass in the storage room above being broken to bits. He stopped and looked at the ceiling of the room.

"Looks like we have a visitor," he growled and was about to fly out of the room when the ceiling was blasted in by a thick, green ecto-blast. He was thrown to the floor and slid into a bookcase at the side of the room, "A very annoying, thorn in the side kind of visitor."

"Yeah, and I have a few choice names for you too, Desire," Danny flew in from the ceiling, both of his fists and eyes glowing bright green, "Where's Sam?"

"Why do you think I have your little _friend_?" he chuckled and stood up in front of the young man.

Danny rushed forward and pushed Desire against the wall in a choke hold a couple of feet off of the ground. He stared Desire in the eyes and snarled, "Don't play dumb with me, Desire. Both of us are smart enough to know you have her here. Who else would have the sick enough mind to rape the most important person to me? You've sunk to the lowest level anyone would ever get to."

"I'm only using my enemy's weakness against them," Desire choked out from under Danny's gloved hand. After gripping at the young halfa's hand he knew that he wasn't going to break free by just clawing at him. He brought up his hand and blasted Danny in the gut, sending him flying to the other side of the room and through the thin wall.

Danny shot up from the rubble and flew back into the room after Desire, "You sound just like Vlad."

"Sounds like a man I need to meet," Desire rubbed at his neck and jumped out of the way from Danny's blast.

"You two are evil enough to keep each other company," Danny charged for another blast and yelled at Desire, "Where's Sam?"

Desire blasted back at Danny, but missed, "As you said, she should be getting raped just about now."

Danny stopped in mid air and looked at Desire with his glowing fist in front of him, "Tell me where."

"Come now, Daniel. Where would be the fun in that?" Desire chuckled, "I have to tell you… you did pick quite a woman to fall in love with. She's a fighter. All this time and I believe twelve attempts by my associates and she survived this long. But this time they have speed and should be able to take her."

"Where!" Danny screamed and aimed directly in his chest.

"Why even try to threaten me? I can't die. I never lived," Desire whispered.

"Than no one will ever miss you," Danny fired a powerful blast at the specter and Desire flew through the wall of the room, out of the hospital and in and back out of Amity Park city limits. Danny stared at the horizon line that Desire had disappeared behind and knew that he would be back. He wasn't going to leave that easy.

"No! Let go of me!" a scream filled the hallways of the hospital and Danny snapped his head toward the noise.

"Sam…"

Danny flew down the hallways, peeking into countless rooms becoming more frustrated with every passing moment. He finally stopped in one of the hallways, closed his eyes and focused on Sam. He finally felt himself flying to the ground level. His feet hit the ground and led him through walls, around corners and finally right outside one of the many rooms. He felt himself transforming back into his normal human self and he opened his eyes. In front of him, two men were holding his best friend on the ground, trying to rip her pants from her body.

Anger boiled in his body. His eyes were glowing a bright green, even though he was only in his human form. He didn't need to go ghost to beat both of the men to bloody pulps of human flesh. He could do that with his bare hands with the way he was feeling at the moment. They were not going to get away with this. Desire's influence or not, they were the ones that were going to pay at the moment.

"Get away from her!" he screamed and walked into the room.

The two men looked up from their soon to be victim and stared in confusion at the young man in front of them. They looked at one another and smirked. It was the same boy that was with her earlier on the same day they took her. Sam looked up and saw Danny walking through the doorway. It looked like Danny, it sounded like Danny… could he finally be here? Or was it another game to create the ultimate humiliation for her?

"Just go home, kid," the tall one stood up and began to walk toward Danny. The shorter one held on to Sam and twisted her arms a bit to tell her not to run.

"Don't tell me what to do when it concerns my best friend," Danny growled and pushed the man out of his way. The man stumbled a bit, surprised at the strength that the boy had. He shook his head and grabbed Danny's arm to turn him back around.

"Now hold on there," he started until Danny turned around and punched the guy right in the mouth, sending him flying to the floor. He looked at the man for a few minutes, waiting for him to get up and then continued on.

"Now, hold on, sonny," the short one said and let go of Sam. She crawled away from the man and pushed against a wall to the side as Danny continued to approach the man, "We were just doing what we were told to do."

"And enjoying it too," Danny snarled and raised his fist to hit the man.

"No, no!" the short man tried to move to tackle Danny, but Danny was able to punch him first. He hit him in the gut and felt the man lift off the ground a couple of inches. He hit him another time in the gut and then once more in the right eye. The short man fell to the ground as well and looked up at the boy, "Fine, take her. Take her."

Danny watched him as he crawled over to his unconscious friend. Danny began to turn and run at them when he saw the short one begin to pull his friend out the door. He wanted to punish them more and he didn't want them to get away. He picked up speed and almost caught up to them until the short one was able to shut the door on him and lock the security devices in place.

"Shouldn't have given them that head start," Danny kicked the wall and turned around to see Sam still pushed up against the wall, gripping at her partially torn shirt and pants.

"Sam…" he breathed and took a few steps toward her. Something was off and he could feel it, but didn't think that much of it.

"You've learned a new trick," she said in a small, shaky voice that wasn't like Sam at all. Was that fear he detected?

"True, I usually don't fight out of ghost mode, but it's nothing you haven't seen before," he stopped a few feet away from her when he saw a slightly swollen lip and a few dozen bruises, "God, what did they do to you?"

As he reached out to her, she flinched and scooted away to the side, since she couldn't go backwards anymore, "Still playing the game are we?"

"Are you _afraid_ of me?" he asked and pulled his hand back, hurt.

"What do you think, Desire? You think that beating up your cronies and shaping yourself like Danny is going to make me drop my defenses?" she spat at him, stopping just half an inch short of his sneakers, "You can copy his voice. It doesn't surprise me that you can copy his appearance too."

Danny looked at Sam and took a shaky breath, 'She's doesn't believe it's me. Damn you, Desire! What did you do to her?'

"Aren't you disappointed you can't play with me anymore?" Sam sneered and stood up, using the wall as a support, "You can't trick me."

"I know, you're too smart for tricks, Sam. Always have been," Danny nodded and held a hand to his chest. It hurt so much. He never knew that it would. He never knew it would hurt so much to have Sam not trust him, "Tucker and I could never trick you on April Fool's. You always got us first."

Sam's face faltered for a moment. She took a deep breath and Danny could see a small tear run down the side of her face, "Did you read that from my mind as well?"

"No, I lived it," Danny said and stood still as he watched Sam battle reality with fiction, "Please Sam."

"What else do you know about me?"

"Everything, Sam," Danny took a tentative step forward, "You can't be best friends with someone for fourteen years and not know them."

"Stop!" she held out her hand and he froze in his position, "Just stop torturing me like this! You know how much he means to me. Okay, I'm broken. You've won. I want to believe that you _are_ Danny… so much… but I… I…"

Her tears were starting to overflow and she couldn't stop from choking on them a bit. Danny closed his eyes and turned his head off to the side, "Just trust me."

"I can't…" she said slowly and watched as Danny dropped to his knees. Her own heart was being torn in half. What if this was the real Danny? What was she doing to him? She's telling her best friend that she didn't trust or care for him anymore.

"What do I need to do to help you believe?" he lifted his head and looked at her, "Tell me! What do I need to do? You want me to fly to the moon and come back? You want me to transform and blow this whole building up? You want me to get Jazz to vouch for me? What, Sam? Please tell me what to do…"

Sam cringed at his words. What was she doing? More tears came and she looked at what she thought was her best friend, "I don't know. He knows everything that's going on. How can I trust what I hear and see?"

"Because you once said that there was only one place where you can feel safe," he dropped his head, "And I want to be that place again."

"Danny…" she whispered and cried out in frustration, dropping to her knees.

Danny clenched his fists and hugged himself in some kind of attempt to think of a plan. He felt something in his pocket and pulled out a single, white tulip. He had picked so many in the past week. He just picked this one the day before. He looked up at Sam who was now on her knees, crying into her hands. He stood up, slowly and walked toward Sam. She didn't seem to hear him or see him coming toward her and he stopped when he was right in front of her.

"I'm sorry," he whispered and her head popped up to see a single white tulip in front of her face with Danny standing behind it. Her breath hitched in her throat and she could only stare at the flower, "You can take it, you know. It's for you. I picked it."

Sam reached out cautiously and took the flower from the young man in front of her. Suddenly she was violently thrown into her own past. It was fourteen years ago. She was only three years old in a small sundress, sitting on the ground crying. A small boy came up to her holding a flower and apologized to her.

"Why?" she heard herself ask.

When she looked back at the older Danny she saw the same little boy that she met on that playground so long ago.

The little boy tilted his head to the side and rubbed the back of his head with his still chubby hands.

"_I'm sorry for falling on you," he looked away in embarrassment, "From the mon'ey bars. I not holding on hard."_

"_How'd you know it was my favorite?"_

_"I had a feeling…like I just knew."_

Sam found herself back in the present on the metal floor of her prison. She held the flower tightly to her chest and her eyes finally fluttered open from her flashback. She looked up, still thinking she was going to find that little boy smiling awkwardly at her, instead she saw the young man that he had grown to be. And the one she had fallen in love with.

"Thank you… Danny…" she whispered and stood up. She took a couple of small steps toward him and finally let go of all her doubt. She threw herself into him and hugged him around the neck. She buried her face into the crook of his neck and began to cry full heartedly. She almost pushed her best friend away because of a stupid fear. She almost lost the most important thing in her life.

"You forgive me?" he asked as he hugged her around the waist and pushed his face into her hair on the top of her head.

"There's nothing to forgive, Danny. I'm the one that should be sorry and should be apologizing," she smiled against his neck, "Just get me out of here."

"Just hold on," he said and transformed into Danny Phantom and picked her up to carry her bridal style. He phased through the wall to the outside and began to fly home.

She finally found herself in her safe zone once again and felt herself finally falling into a restful, peaceful sleep. She looked up at her rescuer, her best friend and the love of her life and smiled softly before drifting off into sleep, "I didn't know that angels wore black…"

Danny smirked and looked at Sam sleeping in his arms, "Neither did I, until I met you."

* * *

Jazz was getting some more of the disinfectant out of the medicine cabinet when she heard the back kitchen door being kicked open. She grabbed the bottle and a few dozen bandages and ran out to the kitchen where her brother was closing the door… with Sam asleep in his arms.

"Sam!" she yelled and ran over to her brother, "Is she okay?"

"She fell asleep," Danny said gently and walked toward the guest room, "Which I doubt she has been doing much of these days."

"Where are you going?"

"Up to her room, to get her to a bed," he continued to whisper, "She has some pretty bad bruising. Her jaw doesn't look so good, either. I need you to look at her."

Jazz nodded and went back into the bathroom to get some more supplies and more bandaging.

Danny quietly laid her on her bed and covered her with one of the fleece blankets from the end of the bed. She stirred a little and began to breath heavily. She jumped a bit and her eyes flew open.

"Shhh," Danny touched her shoulder and pushed her back into the bed, "It's okay, Sam. You're home. Don't worry, I'm here."

Sam took a few deep breaths and settled back into the pillows, "Thank God, it wasn't a dream."

Danny smiled and the two of them just stared at one another. She looked away a few times and them smiled as big as she could with a swollen jaw. She finally settled her eyes on the while tulip she was still holding in her hands.

"How did you know that was going to bring me back to reality?"

"I didn't really," Danny said and looked at the flower as well, "It was just something I had to try. I would have tried absolutely everything to get you back."

After a few moments Jazz tapped on the door.

"Hey Sam. It's such a relief to see you," she smiled and came to sit on the other side of the bed. She set a bowl of disinfectants, medication and bandages off to the side of the bed.

"Hey Jazz," she nodded her head and looked at Danny, "I can kinda see where this is going."

"I'll be right outside the door," he stood up, "Did you want anything to eat, drink?"

"You have no idea," Sam said and heard her stomach begin to growl.

"I'll get you some salads and soup," Danny leaned over and kissed her on the forehead. He then turned and walked out the door and toward the kitchen.

"Now, let me take a look at you, huh?" Jazz began to took out an ice pack she had, "Starting with that jaw."

"Better you than a stranger," Sam looked at the woman in front of her, "I couldn't tell them what had happened while I was there. You… you're like a sister. I can tell you anything."

"Good to hear," Jazz genuinely smiled and hugged Sam lightly, "Now… tell me where it hurts."

After an hour or so Jazz came out from her room, closing the door softly behind her and found Danny sitting across the hall. He was clenching his teeth and was staring at the floor at Jazz's feet.

"How's she doing?" he nearly growled.

"She's sleeping again," she said softly.

"What the Hell happened to her, Jazz?" he finally looked up at her and she never knew her little brother's eyes to hold so much anger, so much hate. He took a deep breath and turned away from her knowing he wasn't going to get an answer from her by staring her down. Besides, she hadn't done anything to deserve the way he was feeling at the moment.

Jazz sighed and collapsed against the wall by the door, sliding to the floor outside the guest room, "Exactly that, Danny. She's been through Hell. And you just happen to be her guardian angel."


	12. Chap 11: Hitting Reality

**A/N:** Hey guys. Goodness, it's been busy. Christmas is quickly approching and for one I am very happy for it. Okay here is Chapter eleven. It was a little harder to write than I thought it would be and didn't come out exactly like I thought it would, but it still works. Hope you enjoy it and thatnk you so much for the reviews. They are appreciated!

**Chapter Eleven:** Hitting Reality

Danny and Jazz sat in the hallway in front of Sam's door. Danny had crossed the hallway to sit next to his sister on the other side of the door and opened the door a crack. Every so often he would peak into the room to make sure she was still sleeping and didn't wake up in a panic again. He saw the small patch Jazz made on Sam's jaw from the doorway, as well as some of the bandages on her arms. He cursed the two men and Desire in his head every time he saw the bandages or saw her squint with the slight pain.

After the tenth time of checking on Sam, Jazz tapped her brother on the shoulder and closed the door gently, "I think she'll be okay for now, Danny. Let's go to your room to talk."

Danny sighed and nodded. He got up and followed Jazz into his room and shut the door behind them. He immediately sat on his bed and Jazz sat in his desk chair.

"You didn't tell her, did you?" she asked blatantly.

"No, I didn't," Danny said, slightly annoyed, "When was I supposed to tell her? When she was trying to find out if I was the real Danny, her best friend, or some kind of illusion set up by our worst enemy yet? Should I have just gone up to her, grab her by the arms and say 'I love you' and then kiss her passionately on the lips? Come on, Jazz. Of course I didn't tell her."

"Don't get upset with me, Danny," Jazz said back even more annoyed by her brother's outburst.

"I can't just say 'I love you more than anything' out of no where… especially not when I first found her… she was so confused, and scared…of me. She's never been scared of me…"

"Danny," she saw him take a breath and knew he had stopped, at least for the moment, "I know… it's hard. I saw everything you and this family went through. Mom and Dad weren't here when they wanted to be and it was just you, me and Sam. Then Sam was gone. I know, but you don't need to take out that misplaced aggression on me."

"I'm sorry, Jazz," he bowed his head in sincerity, "It's just that I love her so much and I almost lost her. I can't just loose her again."

"You won't," Jazz leaned over and touched his shoulder, "You can't. Sam won't let it happen. And neither will you."

"I need to know something," Danny said looking at the carpet beneath their feet.

"What's that?" Jazz got up from the chair and sat next to him on the bed.

"Did they- I mean, were they able to- before I could help-" he couldn't finish. His thoughts skipped from sentence to sentence, unable to stop and use one single question. He closed his eyes and clenched his fists in the covers on his bed. Even with his eyes closed Jazz could still see the burning green light from behind his eyelids. She knew what he meant and she had to tell him.

"No. Sam's a fighter and she's strong," Jazz whispered, "If you hadn't come when you did… that would have been the first time in taking her."

"All those bruises…" he opened his eyes to find his vision blurred a little with a few tears of fear and frustration.

"From the two men. She fought and she fought hard. With what little she had and what they gave her, she fought back."

"I want to kill them," he said in a deadpan, dark voice.

"Danny?" Jazz shook a little from the venom she heard in her little brother's voice. It was dark, it was angry and it was scaring her because that wasn't the Danny she knew.

"I want to kill them for what they wanted to do to Sam," Danny looked at her and she still saw the burning green color that showed up every time his emotions ran away with him, "They wanted to rape her, beat her up until she couldn't go on any more. To get to _me_. Desire and the two men wanted her to kill herself and I know it. And that would have hurt me the most. If they wanted me, they should have come for me, not Sam. They did the most despicable thing they could ever do and I want to kill them for it."

"Don't sink to that level, Danny," Jazz rubbed his back a little, "You're better than that… and Sam deserves better than that."

Danny stared his sister in the eyes and nodded in understanding. She was right. He wasn't so sure if he was better than to kill them, but he sure as Hell knew that Sam was better than that. And deserved better than that. As he thought it through the glowing green color in his eyes calmed down into his regular baby blues and he took a deep breath. His nerves and anger soothed and he was able to breath regularly. He also felt a little something at the back of his mind. As if it was some kind of alarm to let him know some one was waiting for him.

"Thanks Jazz," he whispered and got up.

"Where are you going now?"

"To get some more warm soup for Sam. The bowl I made for her is still in the microwave. It should still be pretty warm."

"She's still asleep."

"She just woke up," Danny smiled slightly and chuckled to himself.

"How do you know that?"

"I have a feeling," he closed the door behind him and got the warm soup from the microwave in the kitchen and hurried back up stairs to tend to Sam. He opened the door a crack and looked in where Sam had her head turned to the side and looking out the window.

"Afternoon, sleeping beauty," he said and she turned her head toward him.

"How'd you know I was awake?" she smiled at the sight of some warm food and tried to sit up.

"How do you think?" he put the soup to the side and helped her sit up with some pillows behind her back, "You got to watch it, Sam."

"It's okay, I got it," she leaned back into the stack of pillows now behind her and gave Danny a place to set soup on her lap, "This isn't chicken or beef is it?"

"You should know that I know you better than that," he smiled and sat the bowl on top of her lap, "It's tomato."

"Thank God, something warm and that will fill me up," she took a deep breath of the soup's aroma.

"Do you need me to feed it to you?" Danny asked half as a joke and half as a serious suggestion.

"No, I think I'm a big enough girl to do it myself," she smirked as best she could and began to shovel spoonfuls of soup into her mouth.

"I didn't mean it like that."

"I know you didn't. And I appreciate the offer," she nodded and kept eating. Danny turned his head to look out the window to find some rain clouds coming in and a small sprinkle began to fall. It was a Spring shower, almost washing away all the pain and frustration.

"You know I could have killed those two men if I wasn't thinking of getting to you first?" Danny said almost off hand as he stared out the window.

"They don't deserve it," Sam nearly spat at the thought of the two men, "I'm just sorry that the other girls had to stay there longer than I did."

"We gotta call the police, you know. They can get the rest of the girls out."

"Yeah, I know," Sam nodded, "But so could Danny Phantom."

"That would mean that I would have to leave you," he stated as if that was the final word. Nothing was going to change his mind and she knew it. At least for now he was super glued to her, "So, the police can take care of it."

"I just don't feel like talking to strangers at the moment. And from the look of it, Desire won't be there to 'fix' the boys for a while."

"Take all the time you need for now, Sam," he looked away from the window and at her and noticed that she was draining the last of the soup from the bowl, "Done all ready?"

"Yep, thank you," she handed him the bowl and he set it on one of the spare tables in the room.

He came back over to the bed and just stared down at Sam. Since she finished the soup she placed the pillows back into a position where she could lay down again. She laid back and looked up at Danny. He was looking at the bandages and the wraps all over her arms and on the sides of her face.

"What?" she asked.

"Why won't you let me apologize for not being there?" he had to look away for a moment.

"Because it wasn't your fault," she said and touched his hand, "Tell you what. You feel so bad about it, you take me out to dinner. Without an apology. How about that?"

He didn't look at her and barely looked at their hands. She sighed and tugged on his hand, "Come here, Danny."

"What?"

"Lay with me," she whispered and scooted to the side so he could lay beside her. He saw her squint a little and laid with her to see if he could stop her from moving too much. She turned to face him and pulled one of his arms under her head and the other just above her opposite hip. She stared into his blue eyes intensely, in a very big attempt to get through to him.

"Danny… you didn't do anything wrong. Desire did. You have nothing to be sorry about. I won't let you apologize because you don't need to. If you knew what was going to happen to me that night, you would have been there. And you found me like I knew you would."

"And if I didn't find you in time?"

"You would have found me eventually, Danny. And I never doubted that."

"And what if I found you dead?" he whispered.

Sam lowered her eyes a little and then brought them back up to meet his and put a gentle hand on one side of his face, "That didn't happen."

"But what if it-"

"It didn't," she repeated and became braver and pushed a piece of his hair behind his ear, "You're my hero, Danny. Always will be. You will never have to apologize for anything like this. Not to me…"

She thought about adding a 'because I love you' in there, but had second thoughts. She did love him and wanted to tell him, but she would have to wait. Now was not the time or the place for romance.

"What did I do to earn someone like you in my life?" he whispered and brushed a hand through her hair.

"I was asking myself the same question," she smiled and moved her hand from his face.

She closed her eyes and cuddled against him for warmth and comfort. She was home and she was safe. That was all she needed to know. Not too far after, she felt his arms encircle her and hug her gently. His head gently sat above hers and she felt his warm breath on her scalp. She had the best friend in the world. Now, if only she could tell him that she wanted more than that.

* * *

"Let's face it, police aren't going to believe that a ghost did this… and that Danny saved you," Jazz sat in the living room as Sam leaned against Danny for support as they sat on the couch.

"And why not?" Sam asked and felt Danny put his head on top of hers.

"Yeah, I'm a superhero, am I not?" Danny smiled and hugged Sam from behind.

"Your other ego is the superhero, Danny," Jazz reminded him and thought for a moment.

"Jazz, think about it," Sam sighed, "The police, the mayor, the people of Amity Park … they all believe in ghosts. Why not believe this?"

"Because they may get a little suspicious of Danny if they find out the same ghost that killed Tucker kidnapped you as well."

"Let them think what they want," Sam snorted, "Look, they know that Danny _Phantom_ is a good guy, for the most part, and that he has been a protector of the city for many years. I'll just tell them what had happened. Two men kidnapped me, held me in the hospital outside city limits with other girls and tried to rape me. Danny Phantom came to my rescue and brought me to the Fenton household where he knew I had friends."

"But why you out of all the other girls?"

"Because my best friend Danny asked him to," Sam patted one of Danny's hands which were resting gently around her waist, "Everyone thinks that in some small way or another Danny knows the 'ghost boy.' Why not just say that Danny asked Phantom to come looking for me and he went back to try and help the other girls later when he got held up with another ghost?"

Jazz sighed and nodded. It was convincing and the police would have no evidence to the contrary, "Okay… when are they coming?"

Danny took a look out the window and saw two police cruisers pull up outside the house, "Right about now."

The knock at the door sent shivers down Sam's spine. She still didn't want to talk about the whole thing to anyone but Jazz and Danny. But she knew that this was coming and that she would have to answer the questions. She just wished and hoped that she could have put it off for the rest of eternity.

Jazz led Detective Chasin into the living room and introduced her to Sam. Delaney Chasin bowed her head a little and couldn't help but smile at the position of Danny and Sam on the couch together. He was happy she was back and wouldn't let her go for the world by the look of it.

"Afternoon, Samantha," Chasin held out her hand and Sam shook it politely despite the mention of her full name, "I am Detective Delaney Chasin. I'm glad to find you in one piece and for the most part unharmed."

"Thank you," she nodded her head and watched the detective sit down, "I just hope you find those other girls the same way."

"We have, and we have arrested the two men responsible. I just need to get your statement and get you looked over," she took out a note pad and began to write a few choice comments down.

"Jazz has all ready looked at me and bandaged me up, ma'am," Sam said nodding over to Jazz, "I can ensure you they did not rape me. And I don't need to see any more doctors. Please."

"I still need your statement."

"I think I can live with that," she felt Danny hug her again and his chest rising and falling behind her, "Can Danny stay?"

"If you want him to."

"Good," Sam nodded and began to tell her story and her side, which more than likely will be told in the courtroom as well. She told the detective about how she was kidnapped and the vehicle that she rode in to the abandoned hospital. She also told her what she saw, what she smelled, what they made her watch… even told her in detail about every time that they had tried to take her. The beatings that she fought through every time they came into her cell and the so-called 'meals' that she was given every other day. She felt Danny tense at some moments in her statement, but then relax at her reassuring touch.

"How did you get away?" she asked toward the end of the questioning.

"Danny Phantom came and saved me," she looked down at the floor in thought, "Right before those two men were going to succeed in finally… raping me, he came in and fought them off and brought me here."

"Why only you?"

"That was my doing," Danny spoke up and looked at Detective Chasin, "I asked him to find her. I know him. My parents have the ghost portal in the basement, as you know, and one day I found him coming from the ghost zone and befriended him. I asked him to find Sam and bring her back. As soon as he did just that I think he left to go and help the other girls."

"He wasn't there when the other officers arrived on scene."

"Other ghost trouble?"

"Maybe," she sighed, "Why did he bring you here instead of a hospital?."

"I don't think it would have looked good for him to bring an unconscious female to an emergency room after she was suppose to be kidnapped, detective," Sam pointed out.

Chasin nodded her head, "Thank you, Samantha. I'll be calling you in a few days to inform you about the court dates and other information you may need to know. Are you sure you don't want another doctor to look you over?"

"I'm sure," Sam looked over at Jazz, "Jazz is the best one I know of."

"Very well," she put her notepad back in her bag and stood up, "I'll leave you guys to yourselves for the time being."

"Thank you, Detective Chasin," Danny finally took his arms from around Sam and shook her hand, "Thank you so much."

"You're welcome, but it sounds like Phantom deserves most of the credit," she nodded and left out the front door with a few other officers following her.

"She's right, you do," Sam said behind him. He turned around and sat next to her, leaning back against the couch.

He smirked and shook his head a little, "I still owe you a dinner."


	13. Chap 12: Walk In The Park

**Chapter Twelve:** Walk in the Park

Sam walked out of the front office of Casper High with Danny still stuck to her side like super glue. She just turned in all of her senior projects for her classes and wanted it to be over with. It was the last day to turn them in and she didn't want Danny to worry about them since they were both struggling to get his done the night before. Besides the fact that he all ready turned in her portfolio for Lancer's class when she was missing; she didn't want to become any more of a burden. They didn't have to go to class or their senior meetings since both had a more than viable excuses to use. Danny just had Sam climb into his car and began to drive home. No more work for the rest of the year. Now all they had to worry about were a few last minute requirements for graduation and, of course, the Prom.

Danny had the Prom on his mind every since Sam had come home a week ago. He wanted to go with her; he wanted her to go with him. Now the only problem in the whole scenario was the way he was going to ask her. It just seemed like everything was happening at once. The court date was finally set, the two men were going to jail, Desire's still on the loose somewhere and on top of all that Danny's parents had to prolong their trip because the RV decided to go down on them. Just like his parents to take a state-of-the-art RV to a ghost convention and not pack any supplies for repair. He definitely needed some vacation time to just get away from it all.

"Danny?" Sam repeated again from the passenger seat, "You okay?"

"Yeah, just thinking is all," Danny offered, stopped at a notorious long light and turned toward Sam.

Her jaw still had some bruising, but the swelling was gone. Her arms still had a few bandages on them from cuts that Jazz insists on keeping a close watch on. Other than that, she was fine. The bruising will go down on her arms, legs and abdomen. She didn't have anything that would cause prolong damage either. She was going to be okay and hopefully back to herself in no time. Heck, she was back to wearing her normal black pants and combat boots. She wasn't so keen on wearing them after the incident, but found that she couldn't fine any other shoes that quite fit like her boots.

"About what?" she lifted one of her eyebrows. He smirked and pushed on the pedal as the light turned. She sighed and knew he was going to play around with her. After a few more moments of silence she began to play whine, "Danny…"

He chuckled, "I was thinking about dinner."

"Dinner?"

"Yeah, I still owe you one if I remember right," he turned onto their street and pulled up in front of Fenton Works, "So wanna go tonight?"

"All right," she nodded and got out of the car, "Let me just get ready."

Danny watched her go into the house and he leaned back on his car, 'Why not tonight? I'll tell her tonight. Not just Prom or that I like her more than a friend. I want to tell her that I love her. And I'll do i-'

"Okay, I'm ready," Sam poked him in the side at which time he jumped into the air a few feet and then held his chest, "Sorry."

"No- it's okay… I just was lost in my thoughts of- I mean, just lost…"

She looked at him a little strange, but shrugged her shoulders. That was just the way Danny was and she love him for it, "Okay, let's go."

"Aren't you just wearing the same thing?" he noticed as they climbed back into the car.

"All I needed to do was grab a jacket of mine. You know I'm not one to dress myself up for hours at a time."

"Good thing," he smiled. They began talking about other things, gossip that was still going around school when Sam was gone. What Valerie was doing during her absence. They had told the young ghost hunter that Sam was back after they called the police. She came over after the cop cars left and talked with them for a while and then went back to finish her own senior projects.

"So did Paulina try to move in on you while I was gone?" Sam asked, trying to catch her breath from laughing at some of the more popular rumors.

"A little, but every time she approached me I held up a Sloppy Joe and she went the other way," Danny said jokingly and laughed along with Sam.

"You carried Sloppy Joes with you?"

"How else was I going to keep her away?" he pulled into a parking lot, "Close your eyes."

"Wh-"

"Come on Sam, close them."

She sighed and did as he asked. They weren't going to a Nasty Burger like she thought since they had driven by several of them on the way there. She felt him swing around and come to a stop.

"Now, no peaking," he said in a singsong voice. He came around the back of the car and opened the door to help her out. He let her hold on to his arm as they made their way to the front door of the restaurant.

"Danny, where are we?"

"Oh yeah, Sam," he said sarcastically, "I'm really going to tell you where we are after making you close your eyes."

Sam smirked and let Danny led her across the parking lot. She finally felt the bottom of her boots hit the sidewalk and Danny stopped her, "So…?"

Danny stepped behind her and put a hand on each one of her shoulders, "Okay."

Sam opened her eyes and looked at the restaurant, "Oh my… Danny… This is 'A Moveable Feast'. I didn't even think you or Tucker knew about this place."

"I didn't," he leaned his head over her right shoulder, "I heard you talking about it with Jazz before you went missing. 'Some of the best vegetarian dishes in town.'"

"And not that good seating, unless you have a-"

"Reservation?" Danny grinned and held out two cards with their names on them, "All ready covered."

"But how?"

"Being the son of the town's _only_ two professional ghost hunters, I have my ways," he smirked and led Sam in.

They sat down at one of the window tables and ordered. Sam thanked the waitress for her water and Danny nodded in appreciation for his soda. Sam couldn't help but smile at the situation. Instead of taking her somewhere where there was only one salad to choose from, he was the odd one out and had to eat veggie for a change.

"So, we've talked about nearly everything except for parents," Sam said and sipped on her water.

"Parents? I all ready told you that mine were stuck at the ghost conference, or somewhere between there and here," Danny said.

"I meant mine," Sam looked into her glass and swirled the glass a bit, "Did they even come home?"

"We still couldn't reach them, Sam."

"Where are my dear 'ol mom and pop on their tour anyway? Made it past China yet?" she asked in a bland tone.

"All the office would tell me was Europe. Daughter or no daughter," Danny frowned at the memory.

"Figures…" Sam looked up to see Danny's expression, "I bet the office got an earful from you, though."

"You have no idea," he smirked at her and they both began to laugh.

After another half hour talking about absolutely nothing in particular as always, the food came and was set down in front of them. Sam put a napkin on her lap and looked down at her soup and then looked at Danny. He watched carefully as the waitress left their ear range and then looked over at Sam. He poked a little at his food and then back at his friend with an unsure look on his face.

"Uh… Sam?"

"Yes?" Sam blew on her soup and took a spoonful.

"If this is all vegetarian, what is my steak made out of?" he poked at his steak in front of him.

"Wheat," Sam said simply, "It's a talent of theirs here. Try it."

"Wait a minute. Do you just say _wheat_?"

"Danny, just try it," she rolled her eyes and took a few more spoonfuls of her soup.

He cautiously sliced a piece off and put it in his mouth taking a few tentative chews on it. Sam looked on with a smirk and he rolled his eyes and swallowed, "Okay, you win. It does taste like meat."

"Thank you, that's all I wanted to hear," she smiled and began to eat up her soup once again.

"Yeah right, don't tell me you're not reveling in the glory of showing me that there are some non-meat product that tastes good," Danny pointed his fork at her.

"I'm not," she shook her head slightly, "but I am enjoying this. Thank you for bringing me here Danny."

"I just had to see what all the hoopla was about," he put another piece of 'fake steak' in his mouth thinking to himself that Tucker was probably rolling over in his grave by now.

Sam began to chuckle, "Hoopla? Where'd you pick that up, your dad?"

"That's possible," Danny just shrugged it off and then began to think again after eating on his potato wedges, "You feel up to a walk?"

"Now?"

"I meant after dinner."

"Why not?" she shrugged, "I'm up for it if you are."

"Good."

It took them another hour to finish their dinner and Danny wouldn't let Sam pay for anything. He just shook his head when she offered and simply said, "This is my repayment for you instead of the apology that you will not take."

She rolled her eyes and went along with it. Why argue when he was too stubborn to let it go?

They took the car to the central park and parked it near one of the bike entrances. Sam grabbed her jacket out of his car and put it on as they walked the paths. He smiled as she held his arm for warmth and comfort. It was starting to turn dark and she still had a slight phobia of dark spaces and corners. Desire was still out there and it just helped to know that Danny was there and he wasn't going anywhere. At least not with her in tow.

'Okay Fenton pull it together,' Danny thought to himself and looked straight ahead at the bike paths and in the immediate distance he could see the playground where they had first met, 'That's it. Get her to the swings- or even the jungle gym! Yeah, that's perfect! Tell her right where… you …fell on her…? Why does that suddenly sound so unappealing?'

"Danny?" Sam leaned her head on the shoulder of the arm she was holding.

"Yeah?" he blushed.

"What are you thinking about?"

Danny searched his mind for any answer that wouldn't involve giving himself away and pulled out the first word that came from his mind, "Ducks."

"Ducks?" Sam popped her head up and looked at him.

"Ducks," he nodded his head in approval, not daring to look at her since she was about to burst out laughing, 'Great going, Fenton. I applaud myself on that one. Clap, clap.'

"Why, of everything in this whole world, would you be thinking about ducks?" she asked trying to hold back laughter.

"Well, I don't know really," he put the pointer finger of his opposite hand to his chin in thought, "It just came to me. Ducks lay eggs-"

"Yes and so do chickens. I believe we have covered the basics," Sam laughed and saw the swings in the playground she ran over to them, sitting herself down in the closest one.

"Fine, if you don't want to hear my thoughts on the winged marvels, then forget it," Danny put his nose up in a playful manner and sat down in the swing next to her, "They are just so…"

"I thought you were going to shut up about the 'winged marvels'," Sam said dryly and began to swing.

"Hey," he kicked off and began to swing next to her.

"What were you really thinking about?" she asked as she passed him.

"Ducks."

"Okay, whatever," she rolled her eyes and began to slow down as the side of the swing seat hit one of her many bruises.

"You okay?" Danny slowed down as they only moved an inch or two back and forth.

"I'll be fine," she smiled and looked him in the eyes.

'This is it! Do it!' Danny chanted to himself.

"Sam?"

"Yeah Danny?"

"I wanted to tell you something," he took a deep breath and looked at the tulips on the outer ring of the playground, "I, uh-"

"BEWARE!" the box ghost jumped from the flowerbed and toward Danny. Danny leaned to one side and the box ghost flew right past him and into some of the playground equipment.

"Dammit!" Danny sighed annoyed and glanced at Sam who only smiled sympathetically back, "Be right back."

Sam nodded and watched as he transformed into his ghost half and flew off after the box ghost. She sat on the swing and pushed her foot against the sand to get a little momentum to swing herself back and forth. She heard a few punches flying and grumbling coming from the box ghost.

"Come here, I'm not done with you yet," Danny called after him.

"You cannot defeat me for I am- No, not the cylindrical container!" the box ghost yelled and Sam heard the lid close and a satisfied Danny came back over and sat himself back down on the swing next to her. He transformed back into his normal clothes and let out a frustrated sigh.

"Now where were we?"

"I believe you were on 'I wanted to tell you something'," Sam said and looked at him expectantly.

"Well, I… I…"

"Spit it out hero," Sam laughed at his nervousness. It wasn't like he was trying to tell her something that might end the world.

"I wanted to know…" Danny could feel the heat rushing to his cheeks, "If you…"

Sam just stared at him with her purple eyes and he couldn't do it all just yet. Step by step.

"…wanted to be my date for our Senior Prom?"

"You want me to be… are you serious?"

"Uh… yes?" he was as nervous as all Hell and she wasn't making it any easier for him.

Sam smiled and blushed as she looked at her hands, "I would love to."

"Cool," he let out the breath of air that he didn't even know he was holding, "Then pick you up at five on Prom night?"

"Danny… I belive we both live in the same house."

"Oh yeah… Kinda forgot," he smiled and rubbed the back of his neck, "You getting cold?"

"Just a little. Want to head back?"

"Yeah, let's go," he helped her up and even used some of his leftover courage to put an arm around her as they walked back to his car.

As they made it through the door, Jazz was sitting in the living room by the phone. She look up at the two of them and both of their faces just fell.

"Okay Jazz, what's the news?" Sam asked as Danny shut and locked the door behind him.

"The two men that kidnapped you…"

"They didn't get out, did they?" a slight tremor in her voice made Danny grab her hand for comfort.

"No," Jazz shook her head, "They're… dead. They were both murdered last night in their cell. No one knows who did it because no one came in and no one went out during the night. And there were no other inmates even near their cell."

"Desire," Danny said as if it explained it all away.

"Detective Chasin talked me through the whole thing. I'm guessing you don't need to go to court, Sam."

"Guess not," Sam said and turned toward Danny, "I'm going to bed. Goodnight."

"Night," Danny hugged her; still unsure about where they still stood.

"Good night, Jazz," Sam waved as she started up the stairs. After she was out of sight Jazz turned to Danny with a small glare and he rolled his eyes.

"I know!" he threw his hands up in the air and began to climb up the stairs to his own room, "'When are you going to tell her?'"

* * *

Desire flew from the city limits of Amity Park, still trying to get the last of the blood from his spectral clothing, "That is the last time I use idiots in my plans. Besides the fact they are too messy to even think about cleaning up. Mortals and their vital organs… just disgusting."

He glided on his back, invisible to the few people they may be walking around the country side in the early morning hours. He sighed to himself and watched the clouds float above and around him. Trying to kill the boy directly hasn't helped, using goons hasn't given him any progress, and using his ultimate weakness against him hasn't even phased the boy. If anything else it seemed to have made him stronger. What he needed was a different approach. A different view at getting to the boy and destroying him once and for all so he could finally have his fun uninterrupted. But where in the world was he going to get it?

"_You sound just like Vlad."_

Desire stopped in mid air and noticed the venom in the boy's voice. It was an enemy, a rival and a man that knew evil.

"Sounds like a man I do need to meet in person," Desire smiled and looked off in one direction. Something in the boy's mind reminded him of another far off place… another state. It was Wisconsin.

And the venom and evil that the boy had dreaded and detested so much…

Vlad Masters.


	14. Chap 13: Seeking Damage

**A/N:** Sorry all for the very long period of my absence. Work has been a pain and I just started school again. Hopefully with a vacation just around the corner, I'll be able to do some quality typing on all of my stories. Sorry about this chapter, it's a bit on the short side, but I tried my best to get it out. I hope you all enjoy it anyway. And before I give you the next chapter, I just have to address one review, since they didn't sign in and I can't send them a note:

**To Reader about Toys-R-Us:** I'm sorry, but I just do happen to know what Toys-R-Us is like, because I have worked at one for over a year and a half now, in electronics- or as we call it, **R-zone**. I have now been through **two** holiday seasons in R-zone and have been through the living Hell on earth that is Toys-R-Us at Christmas. I put Sam in **_after_** the Christmas holiday and inventory when it has calmed down and there are not a lot of people or foot traffic. She didn't have to deal with that Hell... yet. Please check with an author before you assume anything.

And I might be taking this a little too personal, but being there for so long and being through that Hell _twice_... I'm a little tender about someone telling me that I have never been through it. Please, don't take this as a huge attack, I just don't like people thinking that I am not well reasearched in my fanfiction- or where I work for that matter. Please keep reviewing and reading, I am happy to hear that you like it so far and I hope you will continue to enjoy it.

Now that I got that off of my chest, here is the next chapter. Thanks for all the reviews, everyone!

**Chapter Thirteen:** Seeking Damage

"All right you two, I'm going to be going," Jazz set two of her suitcases by the front door while the cab driver waited out in the car with the rest of her luggage. She hugged Sam carefully, still unsure wither or not to treat her like porcelain and then gave Danny a vicious hug and ruffled his hair, "Take care of each other, huh?"

"Who else will take care of this lug head?" Sam joked and nudged Danny in the side.

"Hey!" Danny chuckled, bumped Sam back and then turned to his sister, "Just remember to come by and visit more often, Jazz. It's kind of empty here with out a nosey sister."

"No problem," she smiled and then glared over her shoulder as the cabby honked his horn and then tapped on his wrist as if he had a watch, "It looks like my ride is getting impatient. Be good, mom and dad should be getting home any day of this coming week. I hope you can keep the place spotless until then?"

"Okay, so that means no wild parties, right?" Danny joked and helped his sister down to the cab, "Careful on the way back. Desire's still out there some where and the last thing I need is a call from the police to inform me of another accident."

"I will be very careful," she sat down in the back seat after lugging her suitcase across her lap and to her side. She looked up at her now mature brother and the young woman behind him. She smiled wide and hugged him one last time around the neck and gently whispered into his ear, "Tell her soon. And good luck."

"All right, already. Get back to your job and annoy someone else for a change," he said slightly annoyed and shut the door for her. Sam came down the stairs of the front porch and waved with Danny as the cab drove away.

"So it's just you and me, ghost boy," Sam smiled and looked up at Danny.

"Just how I like it," he smiled back and walked with Sam back into the Fenton works, gently placing a hand on her lower back.

"So, what is the plan for this next week?" she locked the door behind them, still a bit paranoid about things being unlocked or being out in the open without something to defend herself.

"I was hoping to look at some of the new inventions that mom and dad were working on before they left for the ghost conference- or what ever they went to," he chuckled, "When Jazz was here she wouldn't let me near the lab, in fear that something would possibly cut my head off for being half ghost."

"And you're not?"

"Not what?"

"Afraid something is going to cut your head off for being half ghost?" she playfully pushed him in the side.

"Sometimes," he pulled at his neckline on his shirt and swallowed hard at the thought, "But those same inventions have saved me from being captured or worse. Might as well take the chance in finding out what some of them do, right?"

"You got a point," she nodded and slowly followed him toward the basement stairs.

Danny and Sam took a few cautious steps down to his basement/ lab, careful not to push at any secret booby-traps or ghost traps in general. Knowing his paranoid parents, they could have a number of spectral traps that would trap, zap or otherwise hurt Danny. Or at least his phantom half.

"Danny, what weapon do you hope to find down here anyway?" she pushed at some of the spare equipment laying in her way on the stairwell, "Wouldn't your parents have taken all the weapons that were operational with them?"

"Not if my dad thought they had a few bugs in them," he reached the bottom of the stairs and held up the boomerang and waved it at her, "A.k.a. they were attacking me more than the other ghosts he thought were in the house."

"Oh," she took the boomerang from his hands as she saw it's lights turning red, which usually meant that it was going to explode or fly after him.

"And I also had to change the ecto-filter," he jogged over to the portal and changed out the filter, showing the older, 'dirty' one to Sam, "With Jazz not letting me down here, I was kind of getting worried about blowing up. Remember, I gotta change it or we _do _blow up. And I don't know about you, but I'd rather live through my last year of high school. I didn't fight my way through all of those classes just to go out in a bang now."

"Okay, okay… I get it. If you don't change it- we go boom. I get the concept," she rolled her eyes and decided to roam the room a little as Danny finished up with disposing of the old filter. She set the notorious boomerang that killed Danny's PS2 controller and smiled. After a few more days she was going back to work. She has missed being busy and was tired of being babied. Even by Danny. She was lucky they were offering her, her job back to her, but she did have some exceptions and situations she really couldn't help.

"Hey, look at this," Danny grabbed her back to reality and she turned to find him holding a huge ray gun on his right side, "Guess mom and dad forgot this one. It looks operational and I know dad hasn't pointed it at me… yet."

"I guess they were just packing quickly…" she walked to the table where Danny grabbed what she thought was a new ectoplasmic gun from. There were a few more of what looked like smaller containers for catching ghosts along with what looked like a crazy mouse trap, "What the heck is that?"

"Like a lot of things my parents do and create… I don't know," he looked fearful at the new invention, "Just don't touch it. I don't want to go around fighting ghosts as a mouse- or even worse, a bit hunk of cheese."

"I doubt that's what it's made to do, Danny," she chuckled.

"I like to keep all my options open," he looked back down at the gun and took a glance over all the button options, "I wonder what this gun does, exactly?"

"Maybe it turns you into a vegetable?" Sam joked while she took a closer look at the funky mousetrap.

"Funny," he stuck his tongue out at her.

"Mature," she countered and pressed a button on the side of the gun. Suddenly, the gun began to rumble and it expanded around Danny and enclosed him in a see through material, apparently designed to keep all ghosts inside. Sam stepped back at first alarmed, but started to snicker at Danny's predicament. He began to push at the sides of the container and couldn't get out as a human or as his phantom half. In a way, he kind of reminded her of a hamster in one of their plastic balls that they can roll around on the floor in.

"Right Sam… mature. And this was?" he stood in the middle with his arms crossed, knowing he couldn't get through the walls.

"It was the best thing I could think of at the moment," she shrugged and began to walk around the container, looking for a release button or something to get Danny out, "Just hold tight, and I'll think of something to get you out."

"Great… just sit tight," he looked at her as she stretched toward a button above her head. He walked up to the side she was stretching on and leaned on the wall, "You know it could have killed me."

"Your father… designs weapons… for ghosts," she stretched and finally pressed the button she could see clearly marked with 'release' on the top of it and watched the containment shrink back into the gun, with Danny falling on his face. Sam caught the gun before it fell and knelt down next to Danny, "Meaning that they are already dead. I think the worst it would have done was given you a few good shocks."

He lifted his head up and leaned on his elbows, "With my parents, you could never be too sure."

"Right," she held out a hand and tried to help him up. He took it and only managed to pull her down with him. She landed right on top of him, and he blushed and smiled at her sheepishly.

"Oops," he smiled and sat up, accidentally pushing Sam on his lap. She blushed a bright red and put the gun on the table behind her.

"I can get up by myself, Danny. Don't worry about it," she laughed at herself for slipping onto him, although it was him that pulled her down. As she got up she used the ledge of the table as a balance and looked into the faint, green glow of the ghost portal. Her eyes caught something just on the other side and her breath caught in her throat. Danny looked up at her, unsure of why she stopped in the middle of getting up.

"Sam, wh-"

"Tucker," she whispered and Danny whipped his head around to see a vague shape that took form of his best friend on the other side of the portal. It was as if he was asleep and just floating out of their reach.

"Tucker?" Danny called out to him and carefully slid out from beneath Sam, who was still clutching to the tabletop. He slowly stepped toward him and the ghost version of Tucker faded, "No! Tucker!"

He ran forward, trying to reach his friend before he disappeared once more. He hung his head in the realization that he was once again gone, and didn't hear him. Sam kept a close eye on the portal and began to talk as if she was reading something.

"I miss you guys, too…" she said behind Danny. He popped his head up to see the words fading in the ectoplasm on the other side of the portal.

"He heard us," he smiled and turned to Sam who had the shimmer of tears in her eyes, but smiled and nodded just the same. Danny walked over to her, grabbed her arm and began to help her up the stairs, "Come on. I know of some left over veggie pizza that has our name on it."

She smiled at his help and couldn't help but look back at the portal where the final swirl from the other side erased the last of the message from Tucker.

* * *

Another highway passed beneath him and he could see the some dozen fields of corn and other agricultural marvels of Wisconsin. A few hundred cows were placed here and there and he was starting to get very weary of the dull scenery. 

Desire sighed and threw a few dozen of his power blasts into the field, causing a few of the cows to stampede into a few of the agricultural fields. He laughed as the humans tried to catch the runaway bovines, only to run after them in a futile attempt to calm them. He turned to the left, following a few highway signs and roads until he finally saw it.

"Finally," he spun around in a tight circle, just to loosen himself up, "As if this mortal doesn't live far enough inside this droll country side. Now let me just see if my trip was well worth it."

Desire did a direct drop toward the estate and took a quick look around in an attempt to make a smooth entrance. He didn't want to scare the mortal before he got to ask about his plans of vengeance. Although, if this _is_ a very well known opponent of the young Phantom back in Amity Park, than he shouldn't be scared so quickly, or easily for that matter. He just needed a good ally, and from the feel of the estate, he had found one.

"There is a strong anger and hatred aura from this dwelling," he paused to run his hand over a few of the statues sitting on the front lawn and on the front steps of the mansion, "The owner will do nicely in destroying that which stands in my way."

"Can I help you?" a man opened the door and fixed his tie that was slightly askew. His silver hair was brushed back into a low ponytail at the base of his skull and his eyes held dark circles from a possible loss of sleep. He brushed off a few pieces of dust that were just resting on the shoulder of his blazer and looked at the ghost in front of him.

"You do not fear me?" Desire looked at the man, intrigued that he had more interest in fixing his wardrobe than running from the ghost in front of him. A strong, brave man.

"I have fought my share of ghosts," he said in monotone, "I fear very little. So I ask you again: What do you want?"

"Vengeance," Desire said simply.

"Don't we all?" the man sighed and began to turn toward his polished home, "Do tell me when you get it. I'll be so overjoyed."

"I was hoping that you would help me achieve it," Desire now floated in front of him, quickly flying ahead to block his way to the door.

"I have my own plans to fulfill, thank you. I don't need to be pestered by the plans of another," he pushed passed the ghost using a bit of his own power and walked through the door and closed it in Desire's face.

"From what I hear, Vlad Masters…" Desire went intangible and floated through the front door, following the pompous man into his own home, "You and I have a common enemy."

"And who might that be, hm? The world?" he stopped on his way into one of his lavish sitting rooms, and then turned around to face the ghost with his eyes glowing with power, "Or maybe the ghost zone in which you reside?"

"No, I was thinking more along the lines of a boy with extraordinary powers… much like your own," he smirked.

"So, you have met young Daniel, have you?" Vlad smiled along with Desire and took a deep breath, "Now you have my attention."

"Good."

"Follow me," Vlad led him into the parlor where he uncorked a bottle of his favorite wine, poured it into a very expensive looking glass, and took a few sips from it, "Now, what did you have in mind, my friend?"

"It's not so much what I have in mind, but more of what you desire," he took a few steps and looked at the plush interior of the home, "It looks as if you have riches and power all ready."

"But not the world."

"Is that what you desire?" he stopped and looked at him.

"Among other things," Vlad nodded and looked a little confused.

"I will gladly help you in your plot to take control of this _living_ world, in exchange for your services. It will definitely include destruction and death, which is also a specialty of mine," he closed his hands and opened them again to show Vlad a vision of himself, king of the world, with many bowing at his feet, "And you would reign supreme if you are willing to help me in my own conquest."

"And what might that be?" Vlad asked, looking deeply into the smoky orb that Desire made with his ghost powers.

"To defeat the child so that none may stand in my way of having a little fun and running havoc on the mortal world," he slammed his hands together and smashed the orb into smoke, "Just to rid myself of a very annoying distraction. All of my previous plans have gone up in smoke and I tire of this game. I was hoping that you could help me with that."

Vlad seemed to ponder the option in his mind for a few moments, pacing the room a bit, every so often slowly taking a glance at the ghost.

"I don't have an eternity for you to think on it, mortal," Desire bellowed, all ready annoyed that his trip may have been done for nothing.

"I'll help you," Vald nodded in agreement.

"Wonderful," Desire grinned.

"But I want something else…" Vlad said quickly to cover all his bases.

"What would that be? A Queen to rule at your side? A palace more fair than this?" Desire gestured to the huge sitting room and the bottle of opened wine on the table top.

"No, nothing so empty as that," he looked into the glass of wine he was holding and drank the rest of it down, "I want Jack and Daniel Fenton totally… _obliterated_."

"Consider it done."


End file.
